This Christmas, the 1990s films of Robin Williams have been splayed shamelessly on TV screens across the Western world. In them, Williams played a caring, somewhat paternalistic yet emotional gentleman looking to better the world. Such flagrant outpourings of sentimentality on screen caused mixed reactions amongst critics.
It began fairly well – Mrs Doubtfire managed to be sentimental whilst getting some important points about divorce, compromise and family across to its audience. The emergence of a Dame Edna-type cross-dressing icon at the end is a fine outcome we can all derive lessons from, such as how cross-dressing TV stars will always be with humanity, no matter how tough times get.
Patch Adams - Unforgettable
Then it got better; Good Will Hunting depicted a rebellious, gifted young fellow with no direction in the world. In steps Williams, who delivered a fairly profound performance as a therapist/teacher who mirrors Will Hunting’s unconventional attitude. Again it all ends well, with the conclusion less focused on the sentimental, tear-jerking character Robin played and more on Hunting himself.
However, by now the unrelenting machine that is Hollywood realized that Williams was a decent guy, or be it type, for such a role. Therein followed vehicles such as Patch Adams, wherein the formerly reigned in tears and emotion ran roughshod over any wider points the films might have made had they been written with skill:
Patch Adams is the perfect example of a concept gone overboard. Despite its basis in reality, Williams portrayal of the medical doctor with a penchant for clowning lacks the emotional depth or penchant for purpose that makes a great classic. It is cheesy, self-indulgent, and off balance – like some cheaply iced wedding cake. A film released the following year, American Beauty, is an example of a movie that has emotional outpouring and genuine meaning balanced to the point of acclaim.
Ridley Scott's reaction as the script was accepted.
Yet that is not our subject today, for Robin Williams has at last admitted that his 1990s efforts are ‘worthy of more than a couple of Futurama jokes’. As such a script – now leaked – was produced for Williams to discard with satiric scorn those emotive days.
The film begins with an old-fashioned precursor scene in which Williams and the Ridley Scott (the legend chosen to direct the picture) stand atop a cliff’s edge overlooking a beautiful vista. Verdant fields and trees stretch on for miles – a small column of smoke can be seen billowing from a distant cottage, as it lays smouldering from a meteorite strike.
Clutching a scrap of paper, Robin is seen to burst into tears whilst gazing out upon the beauty:
“Eight million…just, why can’t we make the world better with more like ten or eleven? I needed it Ridley, needed a beautifully seven digit sum. Those private jet selling corporate exec’s Patek-Philippes aren’t just gonna buy themselves huh?” A wistful smile spreads upon the actor’s face, brightening a tear-stained, reddened face.
“Still…times are tight and sacrifices gotta be made. They gotta be made, right Mr. Scott?”
“They gotta.” – Here in a fantastic display of male bonding the two males embrace, as a soaring musical score accompanies their regression from the cliff edge. As they walk away from the precipice the camera pans upwards and outwards, fading to the title screen: ‘Mr. Redbreast’.
Bicentennial Man - The story of a long-lived bisexual robot.
Miles Redbreast – played by Williams – in a bizarre twist is the father of all the males seen in his late 20th century epics. As such the film is set in the 1970s, wherein an aging Mr. Redbreast is reminiscing about his younger, CGI-faced years as a mysterious degenerative illness threatens the very life upon which his living is founded upon. It later emerges his hypochondria is acting up.
Commenting on the picture in an interview with Forbes, Williams was self-deprecating and joyous:
“You know and I know I got a lot of stick for doing those tear-jerking roles back in the 90s’. To bring Winter cheer I’m back, playing my own father. You’ll notice in Good Will Hunting the lack of dependable father is touched upon – well as a franchise thing we sought to expand that. Though Miles Redbreast is just as emotional, he differs from his tearful sons in that he is an evil bastard.” - Robin Williams, December 2010
The movie is filmed in the yellow-hued, leafy style of the movies mentioned. However the major reminiscence is Miles’s coaching of a young, impressionable fellow to be evil and snarling:
“I can see…I can see you got the gene Bill.” Miles says, tauntingly.
“What gene?”
“The bald gene. Look!” Williams commences to remove his overblown beatnik wig before making two fingers walk across his wispy-haired skull. Fun, jangly toned music accompanies this hilarious display.
“Oh gee, I really didn’t know what bald meant. Thanks a bunch Miles; you may be a medical genius, but by God are you an idiot. Jeezus.” After this angry verbal complete with slammed door, the orchestral score strikes up again as a teary-eyed Mr. Redbreast realizes his evil ways are finding a place in the young Bill.
The lad grows up to become a TV journalist seen nationwide regularly, but never experiences a moment of serenity. Prior to Mr. Redbreast’s evil the modest ambition of being a school principal impinged upon the lad’s modest mind.
In another reminiscence Miles heads around a city stealing sweets and souls from various people, using an over-sized red nose and clown wig to distract the hapless, foolish youngsters. As finally he escapes with a host of sweets and souls, Stephen King’s angered, time-travelled self decries the matter, claiming the copyright infringement ‘really will bankrupt me’.
As the movie concludes, Miles – now an aged, bearded man – watches an episode of ‘Most Violent Police Chases 4′, chuckling at the various misfortunes. He now has a red nose from alcoholic pursuits, and has through fatherly guilt taken a position in the university at which his eldest son teaches.
The shocking scene father and son are trapped within a ventilation shaft. Such has only been done once before in cinematic history. The oblivious young Redbreast is seen to cling to a pipe, wherein hot steam chars his hand. Williams, standing over grimly and swaying in the perilous shaft says:
“Sean it’s time I told you who your father was. It’s a highly inconvenient time I know – we’re both trapped in this horrific vent shaft and inches from death by plummet. Basically, I am you- Oh, shi-!” Tumbling over, Miles Redbreast’s fattened, lardy bulk topples from the airshaft, swearing all the way.
A Lego reconstruction of the windswept air shaft
His offspring is not the brightest in such a shock-inducing environment. He puzzles over how Mr. Redbreast is ‘him’. A tear passes down his face which then turns to hopeful surprise: a sentimental solo piano strikes up as the fire service pulls up to rescue.
The final moments of the picture flicker to supporting character reactions. A voice-over by Mr. Redbreast occurs as he sits in heaven, having unwittingly caused good through all his evil actions, be it theft or irresponsible fatherhood:
“‘What is life?’ I wondered. Me and Sean we lived our lives – well I did, Sean keeps living it. But maybe I should have held on to that thin pole and waited like ten minutes to be rescued, and then told him. Well you know what? That’s just common sense. I had to tell Sean the truth dramatically though I failed. All of life was just my silly toppling. That he now thinks I’m him is screwed up…but I’ve got confidence he’ll stop studying time travel paradoxes eventually. One day.”
Mr. Redbreast will be in cinemas near you in February.
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