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May 1, 2009Movie Review: TysonPosted by CoolerKing in Movie Reviews

How does one even begin to try and capture a man as unique and un-definable as Mike Tyson on film? Writer/director James Toback made the brilliant decision to let the only person who truly knows Tyson to write his biography, the champ himself. With only his own words, spoken over five days spent with his "autobiographer," edited together with fight/archival footage and footage of a modern athlete walking on a California beach, Toback's Tyson paints a riveting portrait of a man with many more shades of gray than his typical black and white reputation has allowed for over the years. Tyson presents a series of dichotomies living within the same glove-battered brain. Tyson is both a fearful, asthmatic, fat child and the biggest bully in the ring. He is driven by fear and strikes it into nearly everyone he meets. He loves sex and women, but has also been accused of domestic violence and, most notoriously, rape. He is a case study in extremism, someone who does nothing in short measure, both positively and negatively. Toback's Tyson is one of the best biographical documentaries in years, a captivating examination of a life lived in the public eye but by an audience that barely understands it.

Over three days at a house in the Hollywood Hills, James Toback (the writer of Bugsy and director of Fingers, Two Girls and a Guy, The Pick-Up Artist, and more) served as a shrink for one of the greatest athletes of all time. Don't believe that last statement about Tyson? Just watch him strike fear into his opponents in the ring in Tyson. He was an amazing boxer. But, as is quickly learned in the film that bears his name, he was often driven by what scared him most – death and abandonment. Tyson speaks openly about his early days, including his childhood asthma and his very influential relationship with Cus D'Amato. He still gets so choked up over his mentor's passing that one wonders if he has yet to get over it and if losing that father figure didn't send him on the downward spiral that would eventually land him in prison.

Of course, Tyson is not what anyone, even Toback, would call a "balanced portrayal". It is a man in his own words. So, don't go expecting any great insight into the more controversial issues of Tyson's life, although I do think it's interesting to hear his side of the ear-biting incident and even to hear the rage he spits at Desiree Washington, the woman who accused Michael, falsely according to him, of rape and sent him to jail. His time in prison forever changed Tyson.

With no narration and no audible questions asked, one might be tempted to argue that Toback simply had an interesting interview subject that made the film for him. One would be wrong. Toback's fingerprints are all over the movie. He's long been obsessed with larger-than-life figures and the way he directed Tyson and edited the final product bear the marks of a man who both finds his subject fascinating and knows how to make an interesting movie about him.

Toback layers Tyson's dialogue on top of itself, presenting the champ in split screen, sometimes several times in the same picture, as if the voices in Mike's head are competing for screen time. He has made a film with only one interview subject that never feels boring or repetitive – an accomplishment that deserves significant praise. Tyson could have been an egotistical whitewashing of history. It could have been Frost/Nixon without the Frost. But Toback wouldn't and hasn't made that movie. He may not be on-screen, but he's off, challenging Mike with each subject raised and editing the film into a riveting document of a life in conflict.

Rating: THREE AND A HALF BONES

Reviewed by Brian Tallerico (MovieRetriever.com Film Critic)

Release Date: May 1st, 2009
Rating: R

Director: James TobackBookmark/Search this post with: Delicious

Posted by CoolerKing in Movie Reviews - May 1, 2009 at 9:05 AM

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