How to Be Review at RIFF

I took an adventure on Friday night to Rhode Island. A long, traffic-y adventure that had me yelling things at the universe about justice and poor driving skills and Mystic, CT. Blessed be that the universe didn’t have to make good on our “pinky” swear that if I missed the showing of “How To Be” at the Rhode Island International Film-Fest, Robert Pattinson would have to be waiting outside personally for me to make up for the insanity that was my 6 hour plus ride there… Thankfully instead of missing it, I got an insightful dark comedy about the horrible growing pains of those drama-filled years that bridge child-hood to adulthood and a charming Q & A with Johnny White and Robert Pattinson (via phone) as payback for all my hard work (I mean hard driving) to get there to support this film.

The evening opened with the Q & A, which as you might suspect was a little bizarrely awkward for everyone as most of us in the audience had never seen the movie. But Johnny White (Ronny in the film) was ridiculously gracious and funny, trying to get the whole group on board and involved… whether it was relevant to the picture or not. Being that I am not a shy gal, I ventured into non-film related queries when the self-conscious silence was getting tangible with a few “What’s your favorite color?” (his answer is green- mine too) and “What’s your favorite food?” (Johnny loves himself some hummus- as do I). Other items of note that we learned about Mr. White: he plays electronic music like his character in “How To Be”; his favorite part of America are the strip malls, the character of Ronny is based on him; and he was in a Zombie Musical back in the day. Robert Pattinson called in at this point and we were allowed to ask him a few questions as well. I was lucky enough that when I raised my hand, the universe smiled down on me, and I was chosen. I asked Rob about being able to incorporate his musical abilities with his acting- specifically in relation to Art (his character) and his response was true to form as he laughed and mentioned that he thinks he’s more talented musically than Art ~ who is actually supposed to be a work in progress in all ways and not terribly musically gifted. Other questions were asked about upcoming projects (a movie with Dennis Hopper), His HTB wardrobe, whether it was his or not (50 % apparently was before the film and the other 50% became his after), and what his favorite color was (hey that was my question!!) His answer was “BROWN”. (Side note: As a fan of Rob’s, I wasn’t sure if this was just him being silly or actually throwing some of the Twilighters a bone by answering as Bella does in the book when asked the same question.) Either way, both Johnny and Rob were amusingly dry and open and it started the night off well.

Once the movie began, it was hard for me not to remember that painful point in my own life when I was coping with graduating college with a degree in Fine Arts and having no idea where to go or what to do. Art finds himself in this terribly unhappy, awkward rut just having broken up with his girlfriend and moving back in with his parents. The stark difference of Art’s overly-emotional state vs the cold logic of his parents sets up a dynamic that continues to build through the entire movie. Art just wants someone to help him figure out “How To Be” and his parents just want him to be normal.

Eventually, after reading a self-help book, Art calls on the author/ therapist and tries hopelessly to get his head and life together. It’s so accurate in the depiction of what it’s like to be an impotent adult on the cusp of “the rest of your life,” that I literally squirmed remembering my own ridiculous and whiny outbursts at that age. Is Art a caricature? Yes… but a startling realistic one. Maybe I over-relate, but at that point in my life, I expected things to just make sense always and when it didn’t I just started to drift and freak out. I wanted someone to help me… Someone to make life easy again… Someone to fix me. It doesn’t work that way in life. And ultimately Art needed to learn, as we all do (and I did eventually), that we have no one else but ourselves to truly rely on. We need others for support, but our own happiness in life is our own responsibility. Art finally begins to understand this and in the end takes his first baby steps down his own path. Finding his way… not his parents’ way or his friends’ way- just his own. It’s the most important lesson to learn as an adult. At least it was for me.

Robert Pattinson was both hilariously awkward and heart-breakingly sad as Art. It was great to see him do some comedy, but I really enjoyed the moments when he had to portray the awkward pain of Art. In one scene, as he sadly attempts to hit on a girl, he bluntly states “I have an erection.” I laughed out loud and then cringed internally as he was abandoned to sit alone. In another scene, he yells at his mother about whether or not she feels guilty for raising such a pathetic loser as himself. When she answers yes, Rob breaks your heart with just a look. I was very impressed with ability to jump back and forth between silly and serious moments. Other people of note in the film; Johnny White and Mike Pearce as Art’s friends. They were both so funny and endearing, if not insane themselves, as Ronny and Nikki. And Dr. Ellington, as played by Powell Jones, was terribly funny as the strange voice of reason in Art’s life.

If you couldn’t tell, I enjoyed the movie a lot. Very dry British humor and some hilarious visuals (Art climbing into his parents’ bed was Awesome!) made me laugh out loud several times. As I said earlier, Art’s tragic journey was like a flashback to my own dismally, emotional mid-twenties (I’m 31 now). Luckily he wrapped himself around his music in the end, unlike me who gave up the photographic dreams I once had to become part of corporate America. At the end, Art sings “And I’m fine.” And you really kind of believe he’s at least on his way to being “more normal” in the sense of being ok with himself and his life. It’s too hard to worry about how you are perceived by others in life… do what you need to do for you. Be strong, be hard working, be your own stable brick wall… Normal doesn’t exist, but happiness can. And that is ultimately “How to Be.”

By Nicolle