IN PERSON: Director Michael Gracey and lead actor Jonno Davies
Better Man:
Two decades before Harry Styles, there was Robbie Williams drawing the map Styles followed from boy-band fame to solo superstardom. This exuberant musical biopic charts Williams’ journey as a child raised to worship at the altar of Frank Sinatra who finds his own voice first as a teenager with Take That and later as a solo artist. No hagiography, the drama frankly portrays the addictions and demons that accompany Williams’ rise to acclaim as well as the impostor syndrome that vividly manifests as he performs. The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey’s sophomore feature contrasts Williams’ personal struggles with the absolute joy of his music, adding to the mix of recording sessions, club dates, arena shows, and extravagant and irresistible song-and-dance sequences. But the film’s biggest strengths are in its unconventional approach to an artist’s life, and Jonno Davies’ soulful, cheeky, and self-lacerating performance that proves he is, indeed, a “better man,” as is Williams himself.
