#187 - A Better Complete Unknown Man

Has anyone ever actually enjoyed being famous?

Bob Dylan certainly hasn't!

Robbie Williams does seem to have a more...cheeky relationship to the fact that he is one of the most famous men in the world (but as we learned since this movie released, not in America). His biopic stars him as a CGI monkey so like, at the very least, he's willing to have a bit of fun with his whole image.

So, two famously nicknamed Robert's had biopics come out about them recently and despite having almost nothing in common sonically, they were both unable to escape the classic tropes that come along with biopics – fame is isolating, art is hard to make when it hasn't been made yet, a big part of life is believing in yourself but an even bigger part is about the people we surround ourselves with and how we treat them/how they treat us.

Anyway, they do approach the conversation in entirely different ways so lumping them together does a disservice to both.

What's interesting about Robbie Williams movie, Better Man, is that it goes for the very straightforward birth-to-present day style of biopic. Here he is as a cheeky chap in his hometown, except, twist! He's a monkey.

Look, I was skeptical and I really find CGI disorienting a lot of the time, but uh, Better Man rips.

Rip-o-meter 10/10!!!!

I cried TWICE! I cackled! I think the pas de deux on the boat was the most gorgeous choreography I've seen in years and moved me deeply despite one of the partners being a CGI monkey!

(It doesn't get less ridiculous the more I say it.)

Was I shocked to discover that Americans barely know who Robbie Williams is? No! I once sang Angels in front of my ex and she thought it was a Jessica Simpson song.

(Meanwhile, I still knew the song by heart because my music teacher in Ireland used to make us sing at least one Robbie Williams song per class. And because every kid was getting Confirmed my last year of school there (I wasn't because I was raised Unitarian and being protestant in Ireland is *cough rare) so a lot of times it was just me and the music teacher hanging out, singing Robbie Williams songs.)

And the film takes you through the major highlights of boyband illusion/disillusion, dissent into addiction, and triumphant return to stage.

Robbie Williams is very good at being famous. Like clearly fame took a toll on him, but he seems suited to it. Holding down a stage by himself is a feat, but the rabid connection he's built with his fans is everlasting.

To the point that when I went to see this movie at noon on New Years Day, it was me and five other women in the entire theatre.

They applauded after each musical number. Which is great because again, we're watching a movie starring a monkey. But hey the Rock DJ sequence works!!! It's actually near-incredible just how well it works.

The director wasn't afraid to just do it: show the cliches, lean into the known parts, show the drugs/sex/descent because hey, it is a little fresh when it's not a person chugging straight vodka and seeing a monkey do it does make me more uncomfortable!

Because I haven't seen that before despite so many of these movies existing. They circumvented the major criticism by switching up the main visual.

When he later admits to feeling "unevolved" it works.

Meanwhile, 'ol TimTam teamed up with James Mangold, who certainly did not make the Bob Dylan version of Walk The Line. In part, because it's impossible.

Bob Dylan doesn't stand up to any mythos created around him. He wants to be a mystery (maybe partly because he is even to himself).

Mangold, despite being parodied ruthlessly in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, does not shy away from applying similar lenses to similar scenes. (And like, fuckin' hell yeah man, I'm so glad that parody didn't turn off his earnest depictions of these very weird human moments. Even if half the movie does feel like we're stuck watching people watch people perform.)

The thing about fame is that it's flattening. At some point all the movies about super famous people have to show them sitting in a chair, overwhelmed by the reality of their schedule because despite all their dreams coming true they're no longer sure of << lion king voice >> who they are.

And I get it! But it's also boring. Because it happens to all of them regardless of the industry.

Dylan may have been the last person to not to be portrayed as a sellout for signing with a label as major as Columbia.

The films emphasis on covers was kind of fascinating and putting on any of my old Cher records since seeing it has provided a real "oh! this is a Bob song" moment.

My previous knowledge of Bob Dylan was...limited. Neither of my parents are really that into music (we were a standup comedy/NPR/books on tape household) and only one of them is American so most of my exposure to Bob ~lore came from one of my bunkies at camp who was fully obsessed with him when she was a 15 year old girl.

Like we had multiple posters in our cabin of this dude. She would opine for as long as we would listen about his radical changes to the industry. But I never really got why it was so controversial that he went electric.

But it's not because he turned his back on the folk community. It's because Bob Dylan is an asshole. A very talented asshole.

A fact the movie is not shy about! How could it be if it's going to be honest about him.

It sucks that he became the most famous folk musician, it really does. It blows to see the first Hippie-To-Yuppie transformation happen.

One thing these movies do share: a contempt for women! Particularly, fans.

Just once I'd love a really awkward scene with a fanboy instead of depicting hell as the screams of women and girls.

For all that I get that Justin Bieber will literally never go on tour again because of that noise, it's just so boring.

Sorry SORRY women liked your music so much boys! Sorry they bought your albums and merch and were excited about the art and how it made them feel. I'm sooooo sorry to The Beatles that they just had to sing to sold out crowds that allowed them the financial success to be as artistically free as they wanted to be within like four years of debuting.

Sorry!!!!! That must have been really tough and weird to sort through but it's just striking that none of these "annoying fans" are ever over-zealous dudes.

Fame is weird. I'm kind of obsessed with it as a concept because truly...no famous person has ever been like "this rules!!!" and yet we as a culture remain enraptured with the idea.

Viral fame on the internet is both fleeting and forever, but now more people than ever before have access to eyeballs. And you don't need a particular talent to keep people's attention anymore, so it comes cheap and leaves cheaper.

Fame won't solve any problems. We think of fame and financial success as synonymous despite many many many musicians over the years telling us otherwise, actors admitting they keep up appearances for the sake of materializing in magazines, which in turn makes them seem Popular and Successful which helps them get cast in their next project.

Sometimes the two come at once–and the thing about a lot of these Artists is that they really do struggle with addiction. Which makes sense! A lot of people do!!

And the thing about addiction is that we often only see the negative side effects when the money runs out. Addicts who have homes and access to money don't cause a Scene. Most of whats troublesome with addiction comes when the money runs out but the fix is still desired. The crime is rarely doing the drug, it's what happens to get the money to acquire drugs.

And there is no greater parasitic class than managers and agents who are right there to remind artists of how many people are dependent on their continuous ability to get on stage and sing.

The pressure would be enough to make anyone drink or smoke or snort.

But oh boy, monkey freebasing really does hit different.

Never seen a monkey do that before!

Bob Dylan was rarely described as cheeky by the American press, but that's how his assholery reads to me.

The art matters above all else, above audience reaction, above genre, above legacy.

And of course, the lovely irony of that is that Going Electric is the legacy in the culture's mind.

(So is being an asshole but don't worry if you're a talented enough dude they'll just call you 'sardonic' and you still get to be considered one of the greatest artists of all time.)

There have been several movies that attempt to tackle Bob Dylan. Because he arrived so fully-formed that I get how it came off mythical, even upon debut.

(Don't worry, the movie goes out of its way to show that he was a Struggling Artist for about 20 minutes when he lets his date pay for everything and can't sell his Covers album–Joan Baez meanwhile is selling so hard there's a re-order slip where her vinyls should be ooOOoo.)

Mangold isn't trying to be subtle. He's unapologetic about the straightforwardness of his movie, because he's not trying to make anything avant-garde.

That version already exists, it's called I'm Not There and the soundtrack fucking rules.

There was still part of me that wanted a little more from the movie artistically though because, well, there's a lot of watching people watch people. And maybe some visuals could have added a lot to it.

It's rare I find myself sitting in a movie theatre with the thought "Across The Universe did this better" but when it comes to re-creating the East Village in the 60s, Julie Taymor's set designer deserves so much credit. There's something about A Complete Unknowns village that just looks...sterile. Despite the period-accurate cars, and facades, and the very cool circular bar chinese restaurant that feels cool and space-agey and the futurism of the 60s.

Only one of these movies got a slew of Academy Award nominations this morning, and it wasn't the one with the monkey (though that one did get visual effects waaheyy)!

Anyway–the one with the monkey is better.