Better Man

As the year draws to a close and we look back on the films we were graced with, a number of commonalities seem to emerge in our stats: 2024 releases saw their fair share of musicals, biopics and monkeys (Monkey Man, Godzilla x Kong, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, even Wicked). Now, a hurricane of a motion picture sweeps UK cinemas, which is a wild combination of the above mentioned elements but so much more than the sum of its parts.

It should come as no surprise that in his second feature, the director of The Greatest Showman delivers another grandiose audiovisual spectacle in its exploration of popstar Robbie Williams’s claim to fame. The film may take its audience through incisive events in Williams’s childhood, his rise and fall with boyband Take That, a high profile relationship with Nicole Appleton, before zoning in on the arduous resurgence as a solo artist. And yet, it is not the portrayal by CGI chimpanzee that makes Better Man such a trailblazing addition to an oversaturated genre. The choice of simian protagonist cleverly circumvents the never-ending public debate concomitant with any casting choice for a real figure, alongside the obvious metaphorical bearings. (The underlying motion capture performance was provided by British newcomer Jonno Davies, who the Australian Academy for Cinema and Television Arts promptly nominated as Best Actor alongside heavyweights Daniel Craig, Adrien Brody, Colman Domingo and Ralph Fiennes.)

In his iconic music video for Rock DJ, Robbie Williams’s striptease escalates from the foreseeable removal of layers of clothes to tearing off pieces of skin and flesh. In a way, Better Man functions upon the same principle: going beyond what is expected of a biopic, countering ideas of self-preservation to lay bare the pain underneath. Usually, the minute a biographical tale is touched by an estate or involved persons, the informative value is rendered practically useless by an overwhelming need to bathe the depicted in the best light possible, sanitising and airbrushing away human fallibilities in the process. In his collaboration with director Michael Gracey, Williams, however, seemed unafraid to disclose the worst sides of himself and use the creative reappraisal to make amends to the people he wronged.

As a result, Better Man accumulates to a greater narrative than a mere chronicling of the story of Robbie Williams, one that will strike an emotional chord with its viewer, no matter how one feels about the pop star or his music.

Selina Sondermann

Better Man is released nationwide on 26^th December 2024.

Watch the trailer for Better Man here: