Opening Day: 29 April 2010

Synopsis:

A wry comedy about ART, a frustrated musician, undergoing what he sees as a quarter life crisis. This is not helped when his girlfriend dumps him and he has to move back in with his middle class parents ? who are far from thrilled with the idea.

Art’s only friend, agoraphobic RONNY, has his own problems. Holed up in a London flat in a daze of nitrous oxide and electro music, Ronny wants to start a band with Art and happy-go-lucky friend NIKKI, but only if it involves going no further afield than the flat’s roof garden.

Art discovers self-help guru, DR LEVI ELLINGTON, author of It’s Not Your Fault. Using inheritance money, Art pays for Dr Ellington to move in with him and his parents becoming Art’s full-time life coach, shadowing him wherever he goes.

Art’s painfully funny journey to define his existence brings to the fore the dysfunctional relationship he has with his parents and the importance in his life of his oddball friends. Rich in detail and dark yet affectionate humour, How To Be is a timely look at the increasingly common phenomena of grown-up children living at home, frustrated creativity and self-help.

Movie Review:

Not too long ago, this reviewer was tasked to review Remember Me, the one movie which Robert Pattinson starred in post-Twilight. He would not expect that he would next be tasked to review a belated release of a pre-Twilight release of his, How to Be. A 2008 movie, How to Be had previously been given a brief run at the 2009 edition of the Singapore International Film Festival, which leaves this reviewer questioning why the movie needed to be released in the cinemas now. Something to whet the fans’ appetite with till Eclipse comes around in three months time?

Off the bat, this reviewer would like to inform readers that this is a completely different movie from anything else Pattinson has been in. He plays a character who does not brood as much and you actually see him having a funny side but it almost ends up like a typical Pattinson performance considering his character, Art, is going through what he calls a quarter life crisis. Art ends up in a pathetic state feeling the doldrums after his girlfriend breaks up with him, struggling to be a good musician and not exactly feeling the “love” from his parents too. He turns to volunteering to pass his time but this too affects him. He soon discovers a self-help book “It’s Not Your Fault” by a Dr. Levi Ellington and as he starts reading the book, the more he feels the need to bring the author into his life and follow him around in hopes of helping him.

Dr. Levi Ellington, played by the late Powell Jones is the one highlight of the movie. Reminding this reviewer of the Caucasian gentleman in the recent Ricola ads, his following of Art around allows him to pop up in unexpected places at unexpected times just to observe often resulting in funny moments. As Art tries to come to terms with himself in finding out who he truly is, he confronts the people who have impacted his life. As he meanders in and out of conversations with them, the other characters in the movie merely play second fiddle to Art as he rarely disappears from the screen in this 85 minute outing.

The length could have been significantly shorter as the movie hits a stumbling block pretty early on. The set-up was promising but the execution was bland. There were times when the movie treaded between wanting to be a comedy or a drama and never once certain of what it wanted to become. Sure, there is a witty line or two thrown into the mix but the conversations Art has with the other characters are fairly uninteresting and it would be no surprise if the audience goes into a snooze fest somewhere in the middle.

This movie is really for those with a higher threshold for an experimental movie that this reviewer would not exactly recommend it to die hard Pattinson fans. How to Be would probably be best viewed on DVD if you are really intent on checking it out.

Movie Rating:



(How to Be should be renamed How to Try Staying Awake for 85 minutes)

Review by Mohamad Shaifulbahri