Festival Film
Deconstructing Robin
The more-or-less serious side of Robin Williams (clockwise . . from main picture):
' The Night Listener; One-
Hour Photo; Insomnia; Good Morning Vietnam; and, er, Mrs
Doubtfire
82 THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE .S-l Add? 5:".
ii there \\as e\ er an ad\ertiseinent lor the ereatixe henelits ol' drugs. Rohin \Villianis is it. Back in the the late 7(is and earl} .\’l)s. u hen he spent his nights hanging out \xith John Belushi. sho\ing huge quantities ol eoeaine up his .-\nglo Sa\on shaped prohoseis. llL‘ did some till his \el'} lu‘st \xork. 'l'he tele\ision juggernaut ot illegal alien lo\e lest .llork um/ .ll/‘m/r aside. \Villiains‘ l‘ilin eareer started at the height or his energetie hedonisin in I930 with Robert :\lllli;tl1.s eriniinall} underrated li\e aetion I’ll/H‘H'. 'I/it' Him/(l Arron/me to (Mr/i liolloxxed in I‘m: \xith the little seen but e\ee|lent l)('(1//l of i1 Sit/Minor! st}le drama Spiri- l/lt’ Hm eoniing in l‘mo. B} ll)i\’7 Williams had kieked the hoo/e and ponder and einhraeed his on n inuninent hrand ot hair}. bipolar ieonoelasin in (final .llornme Hermon. .-\nd that‘s \\ hen things started to get a little inaudlin. lla\ ing heen horn in NS] into a middle elass lainil} troni (‘hieagix Illinois and raised in Bloomfield Hills. \liehigan and Marin ('ount}. ('alil'ornia. \Villiains \\ as the ol'tspring ot' a seeond generation British lather. and a Ne“ ()rleans l‘reneh-deseended e\-inodel mother. It eould he argued that \Villiams \\ as al\\a_\s going to hax e a penehant l‘or pathos. The root ol' his perl‘ormanees in Mrs Don/Wire.
As Robin Williams enters rehab after 20 years of alleged sobriety and his new film The Night Listener gets an airing at the EIFF, Paul Dale disentangles the mystery of this American institution.
'lm'x. Hun/x. 'I'lli' “Ii/'(lt'tlg’t'. I’uli'li .‘lt/(IHH. .lu/m/i [/It' liar. ./(lt'/\ and his \oieem er uork in .l/ltii/iii all hail lroin that \seird eoinhination ol high l'unetioning .'\spergei”s Syidroine and an old eounlr} sentiinentall} that reaehes \xa} haek he}ond 'l‘he (ioons \ia the \audexille halls lo the traxelling earnies \xith their assorted eages ol lreaks and tnentalists.
Yet the interesting thing about Williams as a film aelor is his \\ illingness. hon e\ er misguided. to e\periinent. l'l'tllll earl} in his l-lllll career he slum Cd Ll desire ll) lk‘ taken seriousl}. l'roin the illill'lllltlgl} popular Haul /’Ht'l\ Stir/«n through the bland .lln'u/wnmes. the o\erraled '/‘/1t' l-is/it'r King and Bill l-ors}th's heuildering hut l'aseinating inega- llop living Human. \Villiams seemed to he stri\ing l'or something heyind the expeeted and the inereurial. llis ehoiees \xere lllltrt'lllctl h} the same kind ol' inad nareissisin. sell. heliel and polynath madness that san Peter Sellers through the least linaneiaII} l'ruitl‘ul periods ol' his eareer l woo l‘)74. uhieh included such e\eerahle geins as '/'/it' allueii' ('lirixlimi and SH]! Bet/x. l/(U’t/ Bull/ml. \Vllllilms llllilll} llll pa} dirt again in 1997 with his hea\_\ bearded portrayd ot ps)c‘ll()lt)glsl Sean Maguire to Matt Damon‘s Will Hunting. working Class mathematies genitis in (ius Van Sant’s least