Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind

This is my first Robin Williams documentary and I don't have the benefit of comparison to others. I have stayed away from Robin Williams documentaries because I had seen his late stand up comedy and interviews before and it was hard to watch--just by facial expression, hyper energy and an overwhelming desire to get the audience to laugh, it seemed like Williams has both a self-disdain and a pathological need to please.

HBO's documentary "Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind" confirmed my impression but also made sense of it in probably the most lighthearted, favorable and loving way possible for the topic, with many sentimental but aware interviews with family members and close friends. All appeared to love Robin and to forgive him his need to always have an audience, even if this both freed Robin and debilitated him.

The documentary acknowledges a depression but ultimately regards a late diagnosis of Parkinson's as the clincher, and also a rare brain disease called Lewy dementia. Neither illness really got its fair explanation in this documentary, being mentioned almost in passing. But what Williams had in the last year of his life or may have had in the many years prior is not too much dwelled upon in general, and definitely not in a judgemental way.

The documentary does not attempt to exploit a narrative about the depressed joker, although part of that is readily available. Instead it keeps a distance and gives tribute to the life of an extraordinary man with a much entangled sense of self-worth. The documentary does do a good job in reminding you to care for your soul and to feel worth where it may be lacking, because while laughter is a therapeutic drug it can also be a damaging one to the person who always feels like they have to perform for someone in need of catharsis. "Come Inside My Mind" reminds you to seek your endorphins in other, more sustainable ways, while paying respects to a generous but burdnened comedian, who gave the world everything he had.