Knock on Wood

Who is Robbie Williams? If you’re not invested in the music scene, at least stateside, it’s not likely to be a very recognizable name. But internationally, Williams is (and has been) a pop superstar, responsible for selling out massive concert venues and writing a host of number-one hits, all while struggling with drug and alcohol addiction and tumultuous relationships with everyone in his life. It would seem that, like with many artists whose careers began in the 20th century, a musical biopic was inevitable.

But this is 2024 – the year of subversively creative musical biopics. From Pharrell Williams’ LEGO-ification of his colorful life in Morgan Neville’s hybrid documentary Piece by Piece to the wildly inventive and manic fictionalized story of an Irish hip-hop group in Kneecap, it seems that the storytellers of today are largely allergic to the formulas that have worked in the past for films like Bohemian Rhapsody, Walk the Line, and any number of Elvis dramas…and that’s a good thing. (We’ll see how James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown and Pablo Larraín’s portrait of Maria Callas, Maria, fare with critics and audiences this winter)

But the beauty of Robbie Williams’ life story, brought to life beautifully by The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey with a comforting ’90s videotape sheen, is that (structurally) it’s almost exactly like the story you’ve seen a thousand times. Kid with dreams of showbiz works hard, hits the big time, descends into a dark well of addiction, but eventually comes out the other side with a new and improved outlook on life. It’s a tale as old as time.

Except in Better Man…Robbie Williams is a chimpanzee.

You read that correctly. This film is (mostly) grounded in reality, and yet Williams is, without explanation, brought to life as a CGI chimpanzee. The reasons why are not esoteric – as Williams himself tells us in his opening narration, he has always seen himself as less evolved, as an animal. He joined the boy band Take That in 1990, when he was barely sixteen years old, and the choice to portray himself as a devolved version of the person he would otherwise have been reflects that loss of self at such a young age. He is nothing but a performing monkey…or at least, that’s what he claims.

Williams’ chimpanzee form is brought to life by the English actor Jonno Davies through motion capture, and animated by Wētā FX, the same effects house responsible for the recent Planet of the Apes films. It’s left unacknowledged by any other characters, but the visual characterization of the lead character as an ape opens up the film to the fantastical, which is perfect for a musical – the genre is all about the suspension of disbelief and the literal expression of emotions, and that’s the basis for what makes Better Man great.

It’s filled with an excited energy that comes out not just during its musical numbers, but throughout Williams’ entire story. There’s never a dull moment – this is a busy movie, but it never feels overcrowded or overwhelming. It has a story to tell, and the advantage of a musical is that it affords a unique visual shorthand. For example, we see the entire romance between Williams and All Saints singer Nicole Appleton through flash-forwards during a dance sequence set during their first meeting at a New Year’s party, with their initial struggles and difficult choices played out entirely through music, with no dialogue to be found.

That’s just one of the places that Gracey’s direction excels – say what you will about The Greatest Showman, but, like Better Man, it’s directed stylishly and with direct intention. Gracey knows how to direct the hell out of a musical sequence, and he flexes that skill too many times to count during Better Man. Every number is visualized meticulously and intricately, loaded with creative ideas and visual flair. It’s like each one not only has its own story to tell in order to progress the narrative, but also its own identity – whether we’re at a Take That concert full of screaming fans (which was, according to Gracey, actually staged in Australia with real crowds) or in a tour bus hurtling through a colorful void faster than Robbie can keep up with, each one is different and compelling to watch – and, more often than not, harrowing and intense.

It’s abundantly clear that this was a deeply personal film for Robbie Williams. Better Man is a hard R-rated tale that doesn’t shy away from diving deep into the psychology behind superstardom, and it’s not pretty. This movie takes everything implied in other musical biopics (some subjects that might be deemed too disturbing for some audiences) and visualizes the brutal reality of the toll they take on the human mind, body, and soul. We see the Robbie Williams monkey do cocaine with Oasis, fight a bloody internal battle, and (in a particularly tormenting sequence) attempt to take his own life. Nothing is glorified, and it’s all done with the respect that clinical depression and other psychological afflictions deserve…but it’s not for the faint of heart, and for that, I myself have a massive respect for the steps taken in Better Man to take an unvarnished and unapologetic look at the life of Robbie Williams, the way that he wanted it to be told. There are no concessions, and there are no compromises. It’s an exploration of how we choose to see ourselves, and Williams is unflinching in his assessment.

Robbie Williams tells us in his opening narration that we should sit back and relax, because he’s going to give us some unforgettable entertainment…and that he did. Better Man is a remarkable thing, an independently financed, six-years-in-the-making story that feels worthy of being told…and like its peers Piece by Piece and Kneecap (two other excellent films that deserve your attention), it’s opened me up to new music while also treating me to the life story of an artist I never would have known if not for their silver screen debuts. I will be rushing back to the theater at the end of the year to experience Robbie’s story again, to hear his songs, and to feel the passion of his catharsis. There’s nothing more fulfilling than watching a breakthrough on-screen in real-time, and who knows? Perhaps you’ll also come away from the experience a Better Man…

Better Man opens in select theaters on December 25, before expanding to a wide release on January 17.