“As my soul heals the shame, I will grow through this pain.”
As a lifelong Robbie Williams fan, it’s hard to describe just how much of a cultural phenomenon he is everywhere in the world… except in America. When the label launched his debut album back in 1999, I could see why he wouldn’t take off. As a personality, Williams was sarcastic and favored cheeky antics, while his lyrics revealed a soulfulness and vulnerability that left some confused. His melding of different sounds, including brit pop, rock, and even cabaret, made him hard to package to a Backstreet-loving market. As an artist, Williams is both universal and singular; he’s hard to pin down and even harder to sell, despite possessing a talent few have ever questioned. But if America ignored Robbie then, those who see Better Man will surely remember him afterward.
Directed by Michael Gracey, Better Man traces the humble beginnings and stratospheric ascent Robbie Williams (Jonno Davies and Robbie Williams) took in transforming from a working-class boy to an international music superstar. Along the way, Robbie experiences the gamut of the pitfalls that come with fame, including instant success, addiction, and crippling doubt.
Gracey, whose most recent feature-directing outing, The Greatest Showman, was a musical extravaganza, brings the same buoyancy here. Better Man is filled with one dazzling number after another, each one centered around a classic Robbie Williams track. The filmmakers certainly had a treasure chest to choose from as Williams has amassed more hits than he can count at this point. Gracey and company transform each one into a series of dizzying sequences featuring dancers, effects, and an altogether new perspective on the collection of songs that have lived in the memories of legions of fans for decades. It also helps that, as a lyricist, Williams has never shied away from wearing his heart on his sleeve whenever he wrote, making his catalog of songs just perfect for this specific medium. Of the many featured here, it’s “Rock DJ,” “She’s the One,” and of course, “Angels” (Williams’ signature song) prove to be the standouts. Finally, the re-recording of the classic tracks Williams did for the film can’t help but bring out the kind of reflective quality found in only the most rewarding of musical biopics.
I suppose it is time to talk about the monkey in the room. Yes, the monkey being Robbie Williams. As the trailers have already shown, Better Man tells the story of its main subject through the use of a CG monkey. Played in perfect mocap fashion by both Davies and Williams, we see Robbie go through every scene, number, and character moment as a monkey. To say this was an unexpected choice would be correct, even for longtime Robbie fans such as myself (although a song on his 2002 album Escapology was titled “Me and My Monkey.”) Seeing everyone react to a monkey as the main character in a musical biopic does take some getting used to, but the effects work is so stellar, that after a while it becomes easy to believe that this is the Robbie fans have known all along. The device also allows Williams to portray himself and, in doing so, gives Better Man a deeper authenticity that, as strange as it sounds, just wouldn’t have been possible without the real-life singer’s furry movie counterpart.
The supporting cast of British character actors all do their part to show their respective character’s influence on the burgeoning pop star’s life, including Alison Steadman as Robbie’s grandmother, Kate Mulvany as his mother, and Steve Pemberton as the father with whom he had a complicated relationship with. But it’s in the performances of both Davies and Williams himself that Better Man shines most. While the former excellently brings to life the younger Robbie’s journey, the older real-life Williams gives a performance that sees him engage with his past and himself in a touching and cathartic way.
Better Man‘s story beats will be familiar even to those who haven’t been treated to the seemingly endless amounts of musical biopics from the last few years. There’s nothing new here in terms of what Robbie experiences since the pitfalls of fame are, sadly, par for the course when it comes to most musician’s stories. But the movie’s retreading of plot points isn’t worth going into. Suffice it to say, you’ll see the bust-ups, the break-ups, the deaths, and the healing. Ultimately, the movie shows how it ultimately matters very little whether or not you’ve seen something done before. What matters is how you’re seeing it done now. I’m betting no one has ever seen anything quite like Better Man.
