Well it's kinda :offtopic: & ON TOPIC :lol:

 

I knew he would get there one day :P

 

@1882437545344258233

What a great idea & he could sing Forbidden Road

 

@1882463769282158841

I'm guessing this will really set the US TikTokkers off again on another rant

 

 

Just Who Is Robbie Williams :lol:

 

@1882439618739794355

Edited January 23Jan 23 by Sydney11

CONGRATULATIONS guys!

 

Better Man gets an Oscar nomination just now - Visual Effects.

 

 

:cheer: :cheer: :cheer:

I'm guessing this will really set the US TikTokkers off again on another rant

Just Who Is Robbie Williams :lol:

 

:lol:

 

@1882432678743376277

 

97th Oscar nomination?

 

Wow!

& we should go too :lol:

 

He will love it & so will Ayda ;)

 

 

Do you remember when Ayda went with Adele -the night she won for best song?

 

That was a few years ago

 

The fragility of healing

 

Dr Marianne Trent reviews the Robbie Williams biopic, Better Man.

 

20 January 2025

 

 

m 43, which means that in the 90s, my friends and I spent hours debating which member of Take That we'd most like to marry. I was all about the main character energy and as a result was always Team Robbie. But as a Clinical Psychologist, I now see that the making of a pop star – or any adult, for that matter – often feels far less glossy in real life than it appears on stage or screen.

 

When I sat down to watch Better Man, Robbie Williams' biopic, I was curious – particularly about the much-discussed monkey playing him. I hoped for candy-floss exuberance but instead found myself leaving the cinema with a lingering sadness. While the film offered moments of brightness, such as the gumball scene, its overall tone was unexpectedly bleak. As a psychologist who often works with trauma and depression, I'm used to supporting people through their narratives, but the one-sided nature of the film left me yearning to help Robbie.

 

Fame and identity: The double-edged sword

 

Better Man offers an unflinching look at the psychological toll of fame. Robbie's rise to stardom, like many boy band members, was meteoric. As explored in the BBC's recent series on boy bands, fame often comes bundled with money, adoration, and access to substances – a potent cocktail of instability.

 

To go from worrying about not passing GCSEs to being thrust into Take That's whirlwind would be disorienting for anyone. Fame, while alluring, can strip away the grounding forces of identity, replacing them with relentless expectations. Having done media work myself and having enrolled on the BPS Media Production Course, I hope that in 2025, aspiring stars are better informed about the highs and lows of public life than they were in the 90s. But perhaps that hope is just my bubblegum optimism returning. The reality likely remains that the industry often prioritises profit over people.

 

 

The cost of substance use

 

One of Better Man's most striking themes is Robbie's relationship with substances. The BBC's boy band series highlighted how fame normalises drugs and alcohol as coping mechanisms. For Robbie, substances were both an escape and a trap, exacerbating the very struggles he sought to numb.

 

As a psychologist, I see this dynamic often. Substances seem to help someone cope with life factors which need anesthetising, but this temporary relief doesn't ultimately help if the life factors don't change. Robbie's openness about his battles underscores the importance of addressing addiction's root causes, not just its symptoms.

 

The role of relationships in recovery

 

Significant relationships can act as anchors, allowing us to share our joy and vulnerability without the need for a mask. In the film, Robbie's relationship with his Nan stood out, reminding us of the grounding influence of those who love us unconditionally. Yet, Better Man doesn't explore the transformative relationships of his later life, particularly his marriage to Ayda Field and the grounding influence of fatherhood.

 

This omission felt significant, leaving the audience suspended in his struggles without the hope or fulfilment that comes from seeing someone rebuild their life. Psychologically, it underscores the importance of support systems in fostering resilience.

 

The need for closure in storytelling

 

As humans, we're wired to seek closure, which makes Better Man's unresolved ending feel jarring. Yet this lack of resolution reflects the messy reality of mental health journeys. Healing isn't always linear, and not every story ties up neatly.

 

For me, the film also brought home how life rarely aligns with teenage dreams. Back in the 90s, I never imagined I'd one day marry a drummer instead of the lead singer! While Better Man didn't end on a high note, its honesty reminds us that life – like mental health – is a work in progress, often finding light in the unlikeliest of places.

 

Reviewed by Dr Marianne Trent DClinPsy CPsychol; founder of Good Thinking Psychological Services; author of the Collective series and podcast host of The Aspiring Psychologist.

 

https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/fragility-healing

Edited January 24Jan 24 by Sydney11

I could add this podcast interview (w/o Rob) in the podcast thread but it's calm, positive and good for listening so I'm posting it here.

Very good conversation from US bloggers:

 

https://www.piecingpod.com/home/better-man-...ourtney-howard/

 

On the 430th episode of Piecing It Together, film critic Courtney Howard joins me to talk about Better Man. If you don’t know it by name, this is the Robbie Williams biopic where he’s digitally replaced by a CGI Chimp. It’s WILD. Puzzle pieces include All That Jazz, Rocketman, Babylon and of course, Planet of the Apes.

 

 

Could it be the name of a new album? :D

 

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Better Man review – We are the chimpions

January 24, 2025 by Noelle Adams

 

Talk about good timing. Musical biopic Better Man releases in South Africa just as its central figure, British pop star Robbie Williams, is touring the country. And fans thrilled by the live shows locally will definitely want to extend the experience by checking out this crowd-pleasing take on Williams’s life, made with the performer’s rather unconventional involvement, and peppered with his biggest hits.

 

Williams narrates Better Man, and provides vocals but a no point does he appear on-screen. Because, throughout, he’s portrayed as a chimpanzee, courtesy of CGI visuals and a motion-captured performance by Jonno Davies. It’s an odd creative choice, but proves less jarring in a two-hour-plus film versus a two-minute trailer clip. It also makes a bit more sense with greater context.

 

More specifically, there have been a flood of big screen musical biographies in recent years, delving into the troubled lives of everyone from Freddie Mercury and Whitney Houston, to Elton John, Amy Winehouse, Bob Marley and, most recently, Bob Dylan. Most of these icons are deceased, or in their golden years. Robbie Williams is just 50 years old, making new music and touring with vigour. Though it’s questionable why Williams is a receiving a biopic treatment now, the primate addition does put some distance between the singer-songwriter and the fictionalised take on his life, helping the project feel less like a documentary.

 

It also drives home the cinematic approach of Better Man, because the film is far from subtle. At one point, Williams speaks explicitly about how the movie reflects his feelings about himself – which is as someone “less evolved.” Get it? Better Man, in fact, devotes a lot of time to conveying the star’s struggles with imposter syndrome; the insidious inner voices of depression; and anxieties about being found out as a talentless nobody who hides behind his stage persona, and the various iterations he’s passed through during a career that kicked off at just 15 when he joined boy band Take That.

 

Narratively, Better Man may be a true story but there’s little we haven’t seen before for this niche genre. The film hits most of the same plot beats as Elton John-centred Rocketman, from the AWOL father and encouraging nan in the protagonist’s formative years, through a long downward spiral of self-loathing and addiction, right to a half-hearted suicide attempt and, finally, self-admission to rehab to change things around. The only difference is that Williams has supportive family and friends, who he is shown treating increasingly badly. In these moments, it’s clear that Better Man certainly isn’t an uncritical, ego-stroking exercise for its former bad boy star.

 

In the midst of its familiar tune, the biopic does at least offer some fresh thematic explorations. It’s signposted in neon for viewers again, but Williams is obsessed with pursuing fame and audience adoration, as he’s convinced that these will provide the fulfilment he craves. But it becomes a desperate pursuit of hollow, transient highs. Ultimately, the film delivers the message that it’s about loving what you’re doing, and, by extension, yourself, as opposed to fixating on others loving you for what you do perfomatively – which is highly relevant in the era of algorithm- and metric-chasing influencers.

 

Meanwhile, a couple of non-Williams focused moments give the film extra punch, like fiancé Nicole Appleton (Raechelle Banno) being forced to terminate her pregnancy by her record label, and Williams’s beloved grandmother Betty (Alison Steadman) breaking down as she realises her dementia is advancing.

 

As already mentioned, Better Man lacks subtlety, but that’s Williams himself and he is well aware of, and unapologetic about, that fact. Director Michael Gracey, who made The Greatest Showman (and, interestingly enough, was initially lined up to direct Rocketman) leans into that fact, with trippy fantasy sequences, and high-energy musical numbers that use digital wizardry to seamless transition between scenes, creating the impression that whole segments have been captured in a single take, and giving things the air of a grand theatrical production with always-on-point choreography.

 

On that note, Better Man features extensive use of CGI. At times it’s gratingly weightless and fake-looking, but that hasn’t stopped the film from earning a nomination for Best Visual Effects at this year’s Academy Awards. Clearly voters were still impressed by the convincing primate reimagining of the movie’s star.

 

The point is that the flaws of Better Man are apparent, but Williams himself is a flawed figure, trying to do better, by himself and those around him. One of his signature songs is Let Me Entertain You, and that is evidently the guiding principle behind Better Man, which is always visually interesting and never boring. The film’s mental staying power may be limited, but in the moment it’s involving, rousing and even got the cinema audience to applaud at the end of screening I attended. Just like they were in a concert venue. How often does that happen?

 

Narratively, Better Man, offers nothing new as a musical biopic, hitting almost every beat covered already in Rocketman, for example. However, that doesn’t stop the film from being an energetic and emotionally involving crowd-pleaser. Its highly unusual creative choices have actually paid off.

8/10

 

https://www.pfangirl.com/entertainment/bett...-the-chimpions/

The movie would not have worked if it had not been for Jonno , he got Rob spot on & made the monkey concept so believable. i wish that he had received some more nominations, he deserves it , I cannot praise him enough

 

 

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@1882566630963847540

:)))

 

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Thanks Laura!

Still think 25-30M is a maximum without US market and it's rather fine results (again, without US).

If streaming and sales will be fine everybody will forget about all these 'commercial flop' headlines. But need to work on it: let's continue to inform people around us :)

I like that for French release they have prepared some new posters.

 

 

 

 

 

I love the twitter post XD

 

It took Angelina Jolie seven months to learn to sing like Maria Callas. It took Timothée Chalamet five years to learn to sing like Bob Dylan. Imagine how long it must have taken to teach the ape to sing like Robbie Williams

Yes, funny post :)

 

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Paramount Pictures is expected to release their unusual music biopic BETTER MAN on VOD and digital platforms early next month, arriving on February 11th, 2025.