Tickled

Tickled certainly deviates from its trailer, but the film itself is a shocking piece of art. Tied together with tasteful cinematography (with necessary hidden cameras here and there), Tickled captures the enigma of David D'Amato's empire of male-tickling videos which results in scare tactics, harassment, and financial bullying of the unsuspecting participants--something that is very relevant to modern issues. I felt sad walking out of the film, which is evidence that this film does its job of riding the line between comedy and tragedy. I do feel that the trailer sets up an expectation of a horror/thriller aspect, but there is not much of this atmosphere in the film. I do, however, think that the film by itself is a brave piece of journalism that endangered the Tickled team financially and psychologically. The fact that the team was able to muster up the courage to finish the film is remarkable, and I hope David and his team are brought to justice.

Tickled is such a weird creature, a documentary about the "Sport" of competitive endurance tickling. Yep, you read that right.

However that is merely the beginning, as the documentary delves deeper it gets dark. Really, really dark.

Not to ruin anything but there is so much more and the subject matter is remarkable, trouble is its ruined by a very lackluster near spineless documentary filmmaker who squanders the potential.

Within moments I felt like I was watching another scripted documentary alike Catfish (2010) the concept was too fantastical and everything just felt too convenient.

However upon investigation it certainly appears to be legitimate and once you've watched the documentary you'll realise that is a really scary fact.

Well made and truly fascinating subject matter but handled by people who were just out of their depth.

We can only dream what could have been! Do hope this doesn't develop a TV show like Catfish otherwise my spidey sense will start tingling again.

I arrived at the local art house cinema expecting to see Weiner only to find that it played at 4:30 and 9:30. Tickled, a film I hadn't heard of was just about to start at 7:00 so there I was.

I have seen tickle videos on YouTube and elsewhere and always wondered about the economics behind these strange, professional looking videos. They weren't advertisements for subscription pay sites so what gives...

Tickled sheds some light on the economics and motivation behind them. Without giving anything away, I'd suggest that it is as creepy and malevolent a story as Foxcatcher. The head games played by Mr. DuPont and 'Teri Tickle' are frighteningly similar even if the results were very different.

Talking about the film with strangers as I left the theater: I thought my 'creepy' was better than any of the other adjectives mentioned. But when I talked about tickle videos being everywhere on the Internet, they might of thought that was creepy.

Too often in documentaries, the person with the microphone can be overbearing to irritation. The low key approach in Tickled makes the journey more interesting. It only heightens what unfolds on the screen.

David Farrier captures our attentions with subtlety and ease in his documentary, TICKLED.

When David receives a hostile response to an inquiry about competitive tickling he does not shy away from looking further.

It is the looking further when a seemingly harmless 'sport' comes to be seen as something much much more. David managed to arouse our curiosity and take us on a journey that (pun intended) tickled my interest, deepened my suspicions and shocked me with it's focus.

TICKLED goes to show us what money and position can achieve and get away with. In a scenario which could have been harmless, one person takes it to an abusive next level and David is there with us the entire time.

Interesting story marred by hyper-passive filmmaker, David Farrier. Always on his heels, not asking the tough questions when he finally had a chance to talk to the subject. Same for his colleague Dylan.