Better Man

Better Man isn’t just a biopic, it’s an unfiltered, raw and emotional look back on the life of a boy who had his innocence stripped away from him for a shot at fame. This is what makes it the best biopic to ever come out and my opinion on this will never change. Before watching this for the first time back in January of this year I knew little about Robbie Williams. I knew who he was and about 3 of his songs (performed one of them back at high school). Now after two viewings of Better Man, I feel like I know him and I feel just like him. This will most likely be the one and only time I will get personal on this app but I feel it to be a space of comfort and support.  Later this year will be 10 years since I lost my Nan to dementia. She was my favourite person in the world and not a day goes by where I do not miss her. I miss her hugs, her smile, her hair, whenever I went over and she would chuck on Mrs Browns Boys and let me eat jellybeans with her. She was so important to me as a child and 10 years later, as an adult her memory is still important to me. Not a day goes by where I wish I could see her again and tell her everything I’ve achieved and I know she would and is proud of who I’ve become and the man I will be later in my life. But some days, I feel like I’ve disappointed her, myself and my family. I feel like I have expectations that I’ve put upon myself to be this person who wants to succeed, this person who has to do something significant with their life to have that feeling of satisfaction with myself and I get it from my peers, my friends and my family. And not a day goes by where I ask myself, “Am I disappointing someone or especially my parents?”. My Mum and Dad are the most important people in my life and I’m sure many of you also share this with yourselves. They’ve shaped me into being the best person I can, teaching me beliefs and helping me through really rough patches. My Dad for example when I was 13, I wanted to give up playing drums but he kept on pushing and pushing me and thanks to that, it gave me some of my best moments in high school and helped me form relationships with people who I will never forget. But now, I don’t play the drums. I haven’t for 2 years and I just think, “Is he disappointed in me for not doing something that I love and something that he loved me doing, or did I, as a kid, pressure myself into doing it because he wanted me to”. This is where I feel like Robbie Williams sometimes, someone who wants to entertain people and be loved by everyone no matter what I do. I want people to like me, to be friends with me and to have supportive people around me.  That, is why Better Man is a film that has stuck with me ever since I’ve watched it and why it will stick with me for the rest of my life. It’s a film where I can watch it and go, “I feel like I can see myself in that character and in that person”, but is that something I want to see or not? Now to go full cinephile mode and talk about why I love this. Firstly, the monkey thing. It’s such a bold and thematic choice to imagine yourself as something that others can’t see but how you feel about yourself. It’s such a personal subject to open up about an aspect of your life that many would not know and put it on full blast for the whole world to see. After 20 minutes you don’t see a monkey, you just see a man who wants to feel loved and be better and it’s such an amazing choice to make about a retelling of your life. Then the musical sequences, some of the best uses of existing material and reimagining it into something else. Feel, Rock DJ, She’s The One, Angels, Let Me Entertain You, Better Man and My Way are what I would say is some of the best scenes I have ever seen. Every single one has a purpose to Robbie’s life and is used so well that I’m honestly amazed there’s more than 2 that are so beautifully crafted and executed, it’s almost a miracle. Rock DJ is a masterfully executed one-shot scene on Regent Street, Let Me Entertain You is a CGI amalgamation of awesomeness with some truely beautiful and heart-wrenching themes behind it, She’s The One is a masterclass in how to do a sequence with no dialogue with only the use of a song and video to show a relationship and My Way while being the simplest of all of them, packs the biggest punch thematically and makes you sob like a child.  I would love to go on, but I don’t know how to put it into words so that will be for the next rewatch of Better Man!