'Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru' Captures Grandeur of Mega Self-Help Event
“Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru,” a new documentary about the larger-than-life motivational speaker and communicator, will be watched by three different types of people: the first, of course, will be Robbins' ever-devout fans and followers, who most likely will praise the movie for its very existence. The second type of person will be the cynical, critical person, arguably having a pre-loaded bias or thought of Robbins as more huckster than a savior.
The third type of person, someone who might find themselves more comfortable in the middle, will no doubt get the most out of what this movie has to offer.
From Academy Award-winning director Joe Berlinger, the man behind such seminal non-fiction documentaries as the "Paradise Lost" trilogy and "Metallica: Some Kind of Monster" (the latter film, which Robbins approved of in getting this documentary made), trades in his darker, more investigative documentary exposé for something unapologetically hopeful, choosing to show the more uplifting side of Robbins' work rather than a take-down approach. On that note, those looking for a deeper, more personal, profile of Robbins may be left unsatisfied.
Those who are looking for a peek behind the curtains of one of the most famous self-help events, however, will have more than enough footage to take in here. Covering the six-days of Robbins’ famous "Date With Destiny" at a convention center in Boca Raton, Florida (a hop-skip-and-jump away from his oceanside mansion), more than 2,500 people from 71 different countries excitedly await their own personal life-changing transformations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUHMZf3qwsQ
At about $5,000 a ticket for the weeklong event, Anthony "Tony" Robbins, (though he would prefer "life-strategist") has built his empire on loyalty, charisma, and results. Standing at an immense 6'7" with a gravelly voice and fixed gaze (while dropping profanity-laden language to snap people into the present moment), Tony’s work is the epitome of tough love by calling people out on the things they are choosing not to confront.
At one hour and fifty-five minutes, “I Am Not Your Guru” shows the entire gamut of the seminar. Condensed down from twelve hours a day to a highlight reel of select participants sharing their stories of hardship and traumatic pasts (try not to think anything of the fact that the people who make the cut are mostly attractive women), it is the raw emotion and vulnerability of the crowd that offers real moments of honesty. Horrific scenes of childhood sex slavery, suicidal thoughts, and the general feeling of being unloved are just some of the issues brought up here, most of which Robbins relates to with his own abused past.
Now, back to the overarching uneasiness that a self-help documentary might inspire: people will take whatever they wish out of a movie like this, depending on what they are looking for. Objectively, documentaries are thought to be real when they are without personal bias, rather than amplifying a certain side of a story. In this regard, Berlinger is unapologetic about how he portrays his subject, intending to highlight the good a film like this can bring. In an industry of ever-growing takedown documentaries that seek out the bad in the world, Berlinger attempts to be among the minorities of good-hearted and inspiring films.
What is entirely undeniable, however, is that Tony helps people in need of help, seemingly telling them the things that they already know but in his trademark will-power framed mindset. Perhaps Robbins is as divisive as he is because what he's selling might be smoke and mirrors: is the idea of happiness an illusion? Is willing yourself to be happy delusional? Does it last beyond the six-day event? And if it works, does it really matter?
As Christian Bale's Batman says at the end of 2008's "The Dark Knight" in response to a series of crimes that have been pinned on the caped crusader, "Sometimes, the truth isn't good enough. Sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes, people deserve to have their faith rewarded."
"Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru" is unrated, but features strong language. 115 minutes. Now streaming on Netflix.
Gondry's Playful 'Microbe and Gasoline' Gets Existential With Adolescence
In his latest scaled-down effort, the ever-imaginative Michel Gondry infuses his childlike curiosities with his DIY art production in this story about boyhood friendship.
There's a thing about movies dealing with adolescence which becomes even truer when that movie is made from the point of view and from the voice of an adolescent: it takes a person who is still connected to that time in childhood that captures the teetering naivete and tottering maturity. Michel Gondry, director of such visually wonderful films as "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "The Science of Sleep" is one of those directors that can write such characters and get such candidly authentic performances, which is seen here in his latest movie.
"Microbe and Gasoline," Gondry's latest small-scale effort, is a movie about Gondry's childhood selves, arguably. Thoughtful and quiet artist Daniel (Ange Dargent), hunches over his sketches of punk rock friends and is consumed by such age-appropriate matters as sex and death. He catches the attention of a few girls in class with his write-up about his punk rocker painting art show, but is all-the-same dismissed by the rest of the kids for his smallish build, landing the nick-name "Microbe."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtmsmPt01jQ
Enter the new kid in school – Théo (Théophile Baquet), or "Gasoline" as he is soon called, for the smell of gas from his motor scooter (assembled from his dad's antique shop – a great excuse for Gondry to feature practical effects). Both recognizing the other as individuals in a sea of monotony, they soon find a kinship and bond over the things that completes the other: Daniel's a little less self-assured than the goofier outsider Théo, and also draws pictures of punk rockers while Théo asserts himself as a punk rocker in real life. Daniel complains that his mother loves him too much, Théo complains that his mother doesn't love him enough. Daniel romanticizes his own emotional pangs because he comes from a strong family unit, while Théo shrugs off pain, arguably because of his own fractured family life. And so, Microbe and Gasoline's ideas take them everywhere, leading them both to ponder freedom – which takes the form of assembling a type of playhouse/car (a garden shed with wheels and a motor) to road trip through France.
"Microbe and Gasoline" covers a range of genres, working as a buddy movie, road movie, and collective coming-of-age movie. But it's also effortless and airless as a movie that's simply about the pleasures of friendship and connection and voicing and discovering affirmations about adult living that they are embarking on. If "Microbe and Gasoline" comes up short in any department, it might be that it's just a little too timid for its own good, and doesn't broaden itself out to make any larger statement about anything other than youthful angst. In less inspired writing, the "dumb jocks" are literally the villains here (Gondry doesn't miss the opportunity to have Théo asset that "today's bullies are tomorrow's victims"). In the film's latter part, which feels about twenty minutes too long, Gondry ends up casting out final lines of half-baked philosophical threads, which ultimately weigh the film down and make the audience lose sight of the magic that first made them friends.
"Microbe and Gasoline" is essentially Gondry's love letter to childhood and life, and maybe one of his most personal movies yet.
"Microbe and Gasoline" is rated R for some sex-related material involving young teens. 105 min. Now playing.
Heartfelt 'Hunt for the Wilderpeople' Bursts With Laughs
Coming off of his 2014 little-seen but well-received hit, the New Zealand vampire-mockumentary "What We Do in the Shadows," writer/director Taika Waititi fleshes out his cheeky brand of deadpan humor in his follow-up comedy "Hunt for the Wilderpeople." This fun adventure story bursts with laughs and surprisingly heartfelt pathos and can be considered his all-around best movie yet.
Waititi previously hit the hammer on the nail – or rather, coffin – in "Shadows" (starring the dryly hilarious Jemaine Clement) by making audiences laugh throughout the whole movie, not sparing any joke that could perfectly punch up a moment. It is clear Waititi is skilled and gifted in his comedic sensibilities. It's this strength of his that shines through in his movies, including "Wilderpeople," which shows his instincts as a comedian who understands how to craft a deadpan comedy that not only makes a movie move from beat to beat and joke to joke, but presents a heartfelt story as well. If it's Waititi's comedic style that makes "Wilderpeople" a gem, it's to the credit of the movie's cast who brings that comedy to life, their characters being both ridiculously funny and yet so rich in heart and empathy, giving substance to an otherwise quirky and off-beat comedy.
Our main character is Ricky, played by newcomer Julian Dennison in a breakout role who anchors the movie not only with his weighty figure but also with his cheeky one-liners and wannabe gangster rap attitude, a front that clearly reveals his reluctant wish for love, being a foster care child. If his comically-anarchic swagger has upset other families, his new adoptive mother Bella (Rima Te Wiata) would love him just the same, allowing him to run away from home whenever he wants (just as long as he's back for breakfast). Certainly, the Child Services lady Paula (Rachel House) is happy to be rid of Ricky, as she covers up that his past is full of punching stuff, kicking stuff, burning stuff and stealing stuff. A watchful eye is also had by his weary "Uncle" Hec (Same Neill).
Without giving much else away, the movie turns into an unexpected adventure movie, with Ricky and Hec finding themselves in the situation of being on the run from the authorities (and a hilariously diligent Paula), leaving the boy and reluctant guardian to survive in the New Zealand forest, with all of the dangers and enemies that wish to hunt them down. The comedy comes a mile-a-minute, balancing from light chuckles to hearty gut-laughs, yet is built on a foundation of love and acceptance, as Ricky and Hec both change and grow in spirit from the beginning to end.
At a time when comedies in the U.S. range from Hard-R genre a la "The Hangover" and "Trainwreck," "Hunt for the Wilderpeople" is a much-welcomed movie to watch with family and friends. It's certainly a movie that will intrigue audiences to watch Waititi's previous movies, as well as anticipate his next big-screen outing (the sizeably bigger "Thor: Ragnorak"), proving that Waititi has become a director that we should join on any adventure.
"Hunt for the Wilderpeople" is rated PG-13 for thematic elements including violent content, and for some language. 101 min. In select cities this Friday.
'Tickled' Hits Both the Funny Bone and a Dark Nerve
Everyone knows what it's like to be tickled. What starts out as innocent fun, after enough time, quickly turns into convulsing bodies, possessed with uncontrollable hilarity.
This lack of control is also what tickling inherently requires: vulnerable people who are defenseless victims to it.
In the new documentary "Tickled," journalist David Farrier reveals the unbelievable real-life story of "competitive tickling," a ridiculous premise that only reveals the darker, more surreal story behind it.
"Tickled" starts out in light-hearted fun, in which Farrier (who stars in and directs the doc), looking for a new story, discovers the world of "competitive tickling." After a message to the organization, he receives a response back from a mysterious woman, saying that the organization would rather not associate with him, being an openly gay man. Farrier doubles down and throws himself into the world, where fake names, false fronts for non-existent companies, and threatening blackmail lie dormant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOBXuCYB4jQ
The early premise is entertaining until a group of lawyers travel from the U.S. to Australia (his home-turf) to meet with Ferrier to dissuade him from pursuing any further. It's here where the tone shifts, and where things lessen in humor and grow in intrigue and mystery.
It's this tonal shift that makes "Tickled" so compelling. Ferrier and a cameraman colleague travel to the U.S., where they locate and attempt to enter a "competitive tickling" match. This leads to his own harassment some days later from the desk of the same woman who had threatened Ferrier before, as well as countless other unsuspecting victims who had signed up for these events, only to have the entirety of it held over their head as blackmail.
What ultimately keeps "Tickled" from affecting further is that it seems to end short of concrete resolution. Investigative documentaries like Netflix's "Making a Murderer" and HBO's "The Jinx" almost seem to come loaded with justice-laden endings, but it's to Ferrier's novice documentary experience that we don't ultimately witness any further justice being served. The final act does amount to Ferrier finding the person behind it all, but after so much build-up, the finale leaves viewers just short of satisfying conclusion. But for those looking to have not just their funny bones engaged, "Tickled" offers a bit more behind the surface.
"Tickled" is not rated. 92 min. In theaters this Friday.
Yo-Yo Ma Unites Us All in 'The Music of Strangers'
There is a moment early on in director Morgan Neville’s new touching, incredible documentary, "The Music of Strangers," that perhaps fully encompasses the theme of this movie. It’s a beautiful scene, seeing people of diverse backgrounds and cultures meet for the first time to perform music together. And though language is shown to be a communication barrier between them, they figure how to arrange their different instruments to create more than symphonic composition; they achieve a certain kind of empathy and understanding. A certain kind of peace.
In "The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble," Neville captures the story of famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma and how he brought people of different cultures and backgrounds together to perform as one ensemble and through one, shared language: music.
This attempt, of course, is The Silk Road Project, and the band leader behind it is famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma–a man who, for all of his awards, accomplishments, and esteem, found himself driven to search beyond technical mastery for a deeper meaning in his life’s pursuit of music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SShFP7QfSCg
And so, in 2000, the virtuoso held a retreat to bring a curated group of international musicians together who would later perform as The Silk Road Ensemble. Brilliantly talented musicians including Kinan Azmeh, Keyhan Kalhor, Cristina Palo, and Wu Man each play instruments specific to their culture and region. They show that, though coming from different places and with different musical stylings, they can create beautiful music together.
In "Strangers," director Morgan Neville returns to similar themes that earned him an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature with his 2013 film, "20 Feet From Stardom”– a doc that also features humans expressing themselves through the performance of music. Once again, Neville shows his deep interest in highlighting the one's connection to expression, affirmation, and relationship with music.
The movie contains interviews from all of its principle musicians who talk about their different backstories and struggles that have caused conflict in their home countries. When the story of The Silk Road Ensemble reaches its end, the documentary shifts to touch on a number of current political issues, such as the Syrian Refugee Crisis, which makes for a somber and empathetic takeaway.
If you are looking for an incredibly performed and photographed live music movie, or looking for a story about people of different cultures coming together to play and share in their pursuit of art, or even just to hear Yo-Yo Ma crack wise and funny one-liners, "The Music of Strangers" does a fantastic job of capturing not just the music, but the heart that unites us all.
"The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble" is rated PG-13 for brief strong language. 96 min.
Léa Seydoux Lends Desire as Célestine in 'The Diary of a Chambermaid'
Adapted from Octave Mirbeau's original 1900 novel ("Journal d'une femme de chambre"), which has already had two successful film adaptations from masters Renoir and Buñuel, "The Diary of a Chambermaid" gets its third telling for the big screen, this time from director Benoit Jacquot.
Léa Seydoux follows in the footsteps of Paulette Goddard and Jeanne Moreau to play the role of Célestine, a young Parisian chambermaid whose beauty and desirability highlights the class system and social milieu of the time.
The movie follows the dutiful and desirable young chambermaid Célestine from serving one house to the next, Séyodoux bringing her sly and knowing smile to each new master. Starting out tending to the Lanlaire house with the stuffy Madame (Clotilde Mollet) and her groping husband Monsieur Lanlaire (Hervé Pierre), she catches the eye of the brooding gardener Joseph (Vincent Lindon) before eventually returning to her first destination, ready to break free for good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB0dYkbA7AE
Nominated for the 2015 Golden Berlin Bear (the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin Film Festival), "Chambermaid" is clearly made excellently and with a high pedigree. Jacquot, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Hélène Zimmer, attempts to infuse a certain kind of post-Freud modernity to this telling, showing the repressions and compulsions of both the high and low class that surrounds Célestine.
While Jacquot's intent to combine the period-piece story with modern touches feels like an exciting update, the result is overbearing. Jacquot's choice to modernize the movie creates fissures that expose the distracting worlds of old and new.
Choices to infuse French-translated "for sure," are out of place, and the camera's perplexing and zoom-ins on characters' faces pulls the audience out every time. Couple this with choppy leaps in time and the result leaves scattered instances of individual strengths but compounded together, makes for an unfocused movie.
"The Diary of a Chambermaid" has many strengths, including its wonderfully rich world led by costume and production design and art department, even if the movie stalls out in its uneven adaptation.
'The Diary of a Chambermaid' is not rated. 96 min.
'Approaching the Unknown' Won't Have the Search Team Called
Apparently, movies have yet to learn by now the dangers of sending but a few scarce humans–in this case, just one–beyond Earth's reaches and into the vastness of space to save humanity from some planet-threatening problem. Of course, this risk of the 'what can go wrong does go wrong' variety, drives a time-tested plot of which audiences are readily entertained; just look at recent cinema, "The Martian," "Interstellar," and "Gravity" for proof.
The real danger that movies should be wary of is building a story around this premise alone, and without adding anything new to the equation. The result, which the latest solo-in-space-survival flick "Approaching the Unknown" shows, is that audiences will fail to care if that character is fated to drift further and aimlessly out of orbit and into the forgotten beyond. While there might be enough familiar elements to satisfy those who are looking for something akin to background-watching, "Approaching the Unknown" doesn't have enough original elements to generate the inertia of interest necessary to captivate viewers in its own right.
The astronaut whose fate we are tied to is William D. Stanaforth (Mark Strong), on a one-way, sacrificial trip to Mars to colonize the planet for the rest of humanity–if he doesn't perish before arriving. A former military man with instinctual intelligence and steely conviction, Stanaforth is also loaded with lazily tacked-on self-affirmations ("I'm not going to Mars to die; I'm going there to live."), making him a comparable but cliche fixture to spend a full ninety minutes with.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQx2eosUlXY
Strong, last seen in this year's underperforming Sacha Baron Cohen spy-spoof "The Brothers Grimsby," lends his action-hero looks and serious resolve to playing Stanaforth and it's to the actor's strengths that he brings the character to life. While he seems like the perfect person to have in a real-life situation–brilliant enough to discover a process to create water from dirt and fearless enough to disobey orders to manually fix his ship in a bind from Earth-residing NASA engineer and old pal Louis 'Skinny' Skinner (Luke Wilson), his cold exterior doesn't lend itself to drawing the audience in, and proves the whole thing could use a little more humor and heart.
You can tell before it's over that "Approaching the Unknown" is a movie that didn't spend its efforts trying to differentiate itself from other sci-fi movies as it does attempting to cash in on their successes. Sure, a few flashback scenes of Stanaforth convey his detachment from non-existent family and friends back home, but there's nothing beyond his person that amounts to be developed. You're probably already braced for when the solitarily-confined character loses his grip on reality, talking to himself and hallucinating characters from his emotional past. But all of this within the first twenty minutes? It fast-tracks all of what the movie has to offer in the blast-off stage alone.
While "The Martian," "Interstellar," and "Gravity," show that battling elements and confronting the certainty of death can do more than simply entertain audiences (each being commercially and critically received and Awards-positioned), Strong's strengths aren't in the department of amiability and warmth, unlike Matt Damon in "Martian," or Matthew McConaughey in "Interstellar (or even Tom Hanks in "Apollo 13"), actors whose ingenuity comes second to their naturally likable selves. It seems the bigger irony that first-time writer/director Mark Elijah Rosenberg doesn't get right in his directorial debut is that the greater the dazzling technology, the greater a natural human presence must be there for us to relate to. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the search team will be getting called for this failed mission.
"Approaching the Unknown" is rated R for language. Now playing in select theaters and On Demand.
'The Lobster' and the Absurdity of Modern Love
In this modern age, where more and more human relationships are being facilitated online – apps like Tinder making romance and falling in love almost binary in nature – is it any wonder why we might now feel like we’ve lost just a bit of our collective humanity, and why the whole thing might even be seen as, laughable?
In the new ambiguously titled film “The Lobster,” director Yorgos Lanthimos (“Dogtooth”) sends
up this idea to make a darkly absurd, yet hilarious and thoughtful look at the amount of similarly programmed, artificialized, confining rules and structures that humans have put into place to connect with others. In stretching the joke to its most absurd, silliest places, “The Lobster” makes for a wonderfully stylish satire with its poignancy and lasting punch. For our interview with Lanthimos, visit www.cinemacy.com.
“The Lobster” takes place in a dystopian, near future world, where single people (according to the laws of ‘The City’) are arrested and taken to ‘The Hotel,’ where they must find a romantic partner in forty-five days or else (cue the absurd twist) be turned into an animal and released into the woods (it's not so cruel – they get to choose which animal they would like to be turned into to live out the rest of their days).
John C. Reilly, Ben Whishaw, and Colin Farrell need to find a mate in "The Lobster."
In the lead role, Colin Farrell packs on a pudge to play the wireframe-wearing sad sap David (the only named person in the film, the rest of the characters being defined as Nosebleed Woman, Loner Leader's Father, and so on), who, in the film’s first scene, is seen as just the latest victim of relationship-ending heartbreak. Farrell, pivoting 180 degrees from his macho and hard-boiled character in HBO's less-than-satisfying second season of "True Detective," gets laughs right off the bat. Farrell proves, with his bushy mustache groomed over his tight-lipped mouth, that he can do the deadpan comedy in spades.
After seeing David unlucky in love, we are introduced to The Hotel, where David and the rest of the other singles are housed and watched under scrutiny by the staff. It is here where we learn the rules of this world – singles check-in at the front desk, exchange the clothes on their back for navy sport coats and flower-printed dresses, are logged into the system, and learn that they must find, not so much "love," as a romantic partner, a mate for life, within 45 days.
Understandably, all singles are largely silent and awkward in their behaviors, including Ben Whishaw and John C. Reilly, who attend The Hotel's hilariously awkward staged talks regarding the dangers of living alone and attending the just-as awkward dances. Singles are also shuttled to the surrounding forest with tranquilizer-loaded hunting rifles, to tag and bag the rogue singles living outside of The City's laws. Successfully neutralizing a “Loner” will add another day to their stay at The Hotel, upping the chances of finding a mate. It's a route that leads David to the Loners, including the Short Sighted Woman (Rachel Weisz), a fellow single who lives under the rule of the Loner Leader (Léa Seydoux). The twist here is, even outside of The City’s watch and The Hotel's confines, living in the forest as a devoted single shares its own equally inhibiting and just as dumb rules. It is here that Lanthimos drives the point home, societal structures that are put in place in the effort to control one’s relationship status is a doomed, fool’s errand.
"The Lobster,” is wildly unexpected, unique, and plays the absurdity of this world with winning deadpan humor throughout. It affirms the reality where people are turned into animals, but even they have boundaries, as a single is wisely advised by a superior that a camel and a hippopotamus wouldn't end up together, because "That would be absurd... think about it.” The modern age intelligentsia poking fun at the state of human behavior to control nature's effect in utilitarian effort is entirely Twain-like, and makes for one of the year’s most unforgettable stories.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU29VfayDMw
1 h 58 min. Rated R for sexual content including dialogue, and some violence. Now playing in select theaters, including the ArcLight Hollywood.