I kept thinking of Spalding Gray's Swimming to Cambodia when watching this, the best compliment I can give. Both films involve a monologue - one that's interesting and dense enough to require multiple viewings.
The challenge is engaging the audience - Clarke uses voiceover and manages to keep things feeling alive and moving for the entire runtime. Jules Roscoe's performance is perfect - this is such a specific tone and she nails it.
Also it's really funny!
A fun watch, especially if you grew up with Green's work - nice to see his parents and everyone again, and there's lots of good footage.
Tom seems to have made peace with a lot of things which means that this is an extremely positive documentary. There's a lot of stuff he's discussed in interviews/his memoir that is glossed over (his battle with cancer is not one of them and is the strongest segment of the movie).
I can't blame…
me 10 years ago: this is hilariously bad! and BORING. oh man lmaooooo
me now: This movie is a secret masterpiece. everything is intentional and we have to know why. The line "I’ve never been to that town, but I’ve been through it.” is the key to the film. Mark Region chose that alias for a reason. We need to dig deeper to find the clues.
bad guys win.
a fascinating premise that refuses to play nice. it's flawed - lots of things could be expanded on, and it drags despite being short - but if you had more experience you'd be too afraid to make this film.
guaranteed to annoy anyone who thinks making a movie = endorsement of all characters within it.
