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Robin's Wish
The 2018 documentary Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind was a thoughtful and detailed overlook at the life and amazing career of Robin Williams, but a 2020 documentary called Robin's Wish takes a much different tack as it basically looks at the final year in the actor's life, the pain and real reasons for his suicide in 2014, and the many misconceptions of same, from some refreshing sources.
As expected, the film begins with archival news footage reporting Williams' death to the world, but instead of then reverting to his childhood and getting a birth to death chronicle of the actor, we are returned to the final year of the actor's life, where we are treated to a tragic look at the depression and pain the actor was going through, which eventually manifested itself in the final diagnosis of his death, a disease called Lewy Body Dementia, which was originally misdiagnosed as Parkinson's Disease.
In a refreshing change of pace for a celebrity documentary, a good portion of the people interviewed for this film were simply Robin's neighbors from the Bay area of San Francisco, where it is made clear that Robin was not interested in the Hollywood scene and the concept of celebrity. He just wanted to be a neighbor and that's exactly the way his neighbors talk about him.
The sections of the film with Robin's widow, Susan, were a different story. As painful as talking about this might have been, there are only two moments in the film where she briefly loses her composure. Loved the way director Tylor Norwood had the camera follow Susan through the Williams house as if the camera is Williams' ghost.
In addition to Susan Schneider Williams and his neighbors, commentary is also provided by comic legend Mort Sahl and director Shawn Levy, who worked with Williams on the Night of the Museum franchise and whose recall of the beginning of the end for Williams during the filming of the third movie, is still a pretty fresh wound for him. Also enjoyed the shots of Williams' initial work on Aladdin opposite original drawings of the character. An intimate and moving look at the final days of a show business legend unlike we will ever see again.
The 2018 documentary Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind was a thoughtful and detailed overlook at the life and amazing career of Robin Williams, but a 2020 documentary called Robin's Wish takes a much different tack as it basically looks at the final year in the actor's life, the pain and real reasons for his suicide in 2014, and the many misconceptions of same, from some refreshing sources.
As expected, the film begins with archival news footage reporting Williams' death to the world, but instead of then reverting to his childhood and getting a birth to death chronicle of the actor, we are returned to the final year of the actor's life, where we are treated to a tragic look at the depression and pain the actor was going through, which eventually manifested itself in the final diagnosis of his death, a disease called Lewy Body Dementia, which was originally misdiagnosed as Parkinson's Disease.
In a refreshing change of pace for a celebrity documentary, a good portion of the people interviewed for this film were simply Robin's neighbors from the Bay area of San Francisco, where it is made clear that Robin was not interested in the Hollywood scene and the concept of celebrity. He just wanted to be a neighbor and that's exactly the way his neighbors talk about him.
The sections of the film with Robin's widow, Susan, were a different story. As painful as talking about this might have been, there are only two moments in the film where she briefly loses her composure. Loved the way director Tylor Norwood had the camera follow Susan through the Williams house as if the camera is Williams' ghost.
In addition to Susan Schneider Williams and his neighbors, commentary is also provided by comic legend Mort Sahl and director Shawn Levy, who worked with Williams on the Night of the Museum franchise and whose recall of the beginning of the end for Williams during the filming of the third movie, is still a pretty fresh wound for him. Also enjoyed the shots of Williams' initial work on Aladdin opposite original drawings of the character. An intimate and moving look at the final days of a show business legend unlike we will ever see again.