How to Be (2008)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Oliver Irving

Release Date:

28 August 2009 (Italy)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

Sometimes we all need a little help

Plot:

A young man having an existential crisis convinces a Canadian self-help guru to come to London and become his personal life coach.

Plot Keywords:

Question In Title

Awards:

4 wins

Cast

Robert Pattinson	...	Art
Rebecca Pidgeon	...	Mother
Jeremy Hardy	...	Jeremy
Powell Jones	...	Dr. Ellington
Mike Pearce	...	Nikki
Johnny White	...	Ronny
Michael Irving	...	Father
Alisa Arnah	...	Jessica
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Michael Williams	...	Gareth

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Australia:MA

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

How To Be Films

Trivia:

The song in the trailer is the 'Hammond Song' by The Roches.

Quotes:

Ronny: I have a balance of self already.
Nikki: Tell me really. Do you actually like your self?
Ronny: Yeah.
Nikki: Really?
Ronny: No.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Michael Phelps/Lil' Wayne (#34.1)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

1996

Lovely, quirky, and polished film. Pattinson is great, but so is everything else.

I attended the DC Independent Film Festival's screening of How To Be here in Washington, DC.

I loved it! I like quiet little movies like this. It's all dialogue-rich, and location sets, and natural composition. I thought the casting was perfect: the characters were organic and realistic, other than Dr. Ellington (the personal therapist) who was supposed to be a caricature rather than a true character in the film. This gave it a subtly surreal dynamic, which I thought was a nice touch.

The script was great, IMO. I generally like good character sketches, though, so I suppose I could see people who are not interested in the same being less than thrilled with it. But I like the themes that Art brings to the story. They are typical and simple themes, like love, direction, family, friends, work, sadness, happiness. The characters are wholly irreverent and hilariously unique. For a very small film, this script is nicely fleshed out.

The direction, production, and editing were great! I didn't catch any mistakes. They had a thorough cinematographer, too. I thought the lighting was pleasing, and the sound was mixed/edited nicely.

And yes. Rob Pattinson's performance is stellar. For being a self-proclaimed "untrained" actor, he's got such a wonderful and daring on-screen presence. Art is pathetic...so freakin' pathetic. And Pattinson embodies him with such precise depth. His comedic delivery, his physical timing, his vocal performance; I swear, it's all flawless. He really reaches inside himself to find that space where depression and anxiety live, and he dives into the process of putting himself back together again. You really root for the guy, pathetic as he is. As Pattinson's fame swells exponentially in the coming years, this one will become a sleeper testament to his acting chops--teeny bopper vampire love stories be damned.