How To Be – A Film by Oliver Irving starring Robert Pattinson
So it’s a film about a converse and skinny jeans wearing kid who has a problem with depression. All very lower-upper-middle class, British. All very Mumblecore. The film starts with our hero, Art (Robert Pattinson), recounting a story about how his father made him burn his toys to make some never explained point about life. He’s telling this to his disinterested girlfriend to stop her dumping him. Brutal huh? That might as well sum up the film. It’s kind of distressing to watch, but there’s some sort of point to it; I just wish I knew what it was.
Poor public school educated Art, who spends his life drifting around London, working in a supermarket and volunteering, spending his uncles inheritance, has been screwed by life. He’s a wimp. His music is bad. His friends are mere props – one is the sort of mild mannered kid, living in an apartment paid for by his dad, apparently refusing to face life. The other is a womanising Sid Vicious wannabe who is about as convincing as a reproduction of the Mona Lisa done in marzipan. Arthur is a hopelessly naive character. He spends all his money bringing over a Canadian psychiatrist who follows him around to deal with his chronic self obsession. The only comic moments of the whole film – one endlessly repeated joke – is Dr Ellington popping up in bizarre places to add insight to his observance, whether it be in Arts parents bedroom or in the lavatories of his girlfriends primary school. It’s really not all that funny. Of course, all this being followed around only makes Art’s life worse. How terrible.
Inevitably of course, there is eventually a sort of redemption. Self help and psychiatry are worthless. It’s running away from problems that is the solution. Art gets a very depressing looking flat and the dear doctor ends up working on his parents, through alcohol and self revelation, rather than through cliches. His parents realise how awful they are. His dad realises he loves him. His music remains terrible, but for some reason he finds happiness in it. Kind of. The world looks like a better place, even though it isn’t.
All in all, a terribly boring waste of ninety minutes. This film, like it’s principal character, suffers from a complete lack of ambition and an unwillingness to try to be something better. It shows a boy finding happiness, but in such an unsatisfactory way. You want to scream out ‘Your life is still pointless!’. It’s a success story, but without any tangible success. It’s like a film about a guy who can’t be bothered to get out of bed. And in the end he gets out bed. Fantastic. Is that all we really want from life?
The thing about this film is that it doesn’t try particularly hard, or to achieve particularly much, but it does so splendidly. It’s well filmed, well cut, reasonably well acted. It just happens to be as pointless as a paper mâché crash helmet.
http://www.howtobemovie.com/
Tags: British Cinema, How To Be, Indie Cinema, Oliver Irving, Robert Pattinson
