Film: Better Man
Cast: Robbie Williams, Jonno Davies, Steve Pemberton, Alison Steadman, Kate Mulvany, Frazer Hadfield, Damon Herriman, Raechelle Banno
Director: Michael Gracey
Rating: 3.5/5
Runtime: 136 min

Robbie Williams, who often described himself in interviews as feeling like a performing monkey, gets to be a simian in this biopic that charts his path from the youngest and brashest member of chart-topping boy band, Take That, through to his unparalleled achievements as a record-breaking solo artist.

The narrative follows Robbie Williams` journey from childhood and onwards, towards superstardom, while confronting the challenges that stratospheric fame and success can bring. Director Michael Gracey’s film doesn’t spare any blushes while documenting Williams’ public antics and history of drug use and partying.

The Williams we see on screen is a computer creation, defining Robbie Williams` view of himself. In the opening seconds itself, Williams’ voice over asserts, “I want to show you how I really see myself”— and we behold an anthropomorphic monkey, rendered in CGI, jumping, dancing and prancing about singing songs and keeping the audience enthralled. Williams voices himself and lends his eyes to a simian’s face and body (actor Jonno Davies in a motion capture cum computer generation). The facial expressions are near perfect. Emotionally fraught scenes with his grandmother (Alison Steadman) and his unreliable father (Steve Pemberton) capture the drama of relationship stress quite effectively. It’s a crazy, gimmicky concept yet it works quite well.