Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story

 

Story:

In this documentary, filmmaker Sarah Townsend chronicles the winding path that cross-dressing British comic Eddie Izzard has taken on his journey from showbiz obscurity to the heights of international stardom on the stage and silver screen. Interspersed with revealing personal moments, home movies and plenty of performance clips, Izzard himself reflects on the relentless determination that has seen him through the up and downs of his career. (NetFlix)

Review:

I’m a huge Eddie Izzard fan.  He’s a comedian everyone should experience at least once.  If you haven’t heard of him (and as shocking as it is, there are those who haven’t) then I’m not going to ruin his image by trying to summarize him here.  Instead, go out and rent his stand up “Dressed to Kill”.  Do not start with Sarah Townsend’s Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story- not because it is a horrible film, but it won’t do justice to his appealing nature unless you know his humor beforehand.

Admittedly, there is an unrelenting randomness to Izzard.  His success revolves around him improvising and running down tangents that pop into his mind as he speaks.  So when anyone tries to dissect Townsend’s documentary, they must grant her a bit of leeway as I’m sure a traditional sit down interview was completely out of the question.  In fact, it’s quite clear she had to piece together several interviews to get a coherent thought from him.  So, instead of fighting this randomness, she took a risk and embraced it in her film.

I can’t say the risk was a success though.  Where Izzard’s stand up can be endearing, the approach in film is rather cumbersome- as if watching a new filmmaker learn on the fly as she’s shooting and editing.  As a result, themes are hinted at and sometimes even partially developed before ultimately being cast aside for a new, peripheral idea.  But don’t worry, this is not a film of random images and words (though there are certainly a fair share of random interviews).  There is a logical flow to this documentary, but there are just too many tangents and it kills the flow of any coherent message.

This is especially true if you don’t know all the nuances of Izzard’s life.  For instance, if you didn’t know about his childhood, school days or even his recent fraud case, you might get a peek into these issues but only a peek that raises more questions rather then fulfilling answers.  Even his attempts at street performing or creating a new stand up routine are in depth but lacking in anything tangible you can describe to others.

It’s a shame these tangents ruin an otherwise exhaustive film.  It’s clear there are plenty of touching moments well worth fleshing out, but they are cut short because of the other moments.  If there was no time limit, I’m sure Townsend could have created an excellent biography (she certainly appeared to have the footage to create a Ken Burns-like miniseries), but running at an hour and 40 minutes, there just wasn’t enough time for both a coherent story and Izzard’s trademark tangents.

For hardcore Izzard fans, it’s worth witnessing, as you get to see just how hard this gifted comedian worked to get where he is today.  But for non-fans, turn to Izzard’s stand up first, because by the time you finish your third show, you’ll be a die-hard able to truly digest this documentary.

Reviewed by Matthew Abshire for Documentary Film Online on February 22, 2011

In Conclusion: