Meilleur homme

Portrait lucide et honnête d'un personnage complexe. Récit classique rehaussé par d'audacieux parti-pris stylistiques. Composition vibrante du protagoniste.

Le drame biographico-musical sur la vie du chanteur Robbie Williams se distingue un peu grâce à un parti pris inusité.

En décidant de remplacer Robbie Williams par un singe en CGI, le réalisateur et coscénariste Michael Gracey donne à ce film biographique un attrait inattendu. 

The best musical biopic about a singing chimp you'll see this year.

Gracey may film Better Man through a thick veneer of showbiz glitz but -- thanks in large part to the fact that, again, the star is a CGI chimpanzee -- the film's heaviest scenes sneak up on you and pack a wallop.

[Gracey's] angle is frustratingly familiar, though the execution is downright astonishing -- we're talking Wachowski-level ingenuity as Gracey fashions sophisticated montages where you can't even spot the cuts.

Better Man is beautifully emotional and engaging, and it's an admirably big swing. But it would have a greater shot at making audiences go ape if the primate concept were used more judiciously.

Given the craziness of the concept, it is surprising that several of the scenes work as well as they do.