“I thought you were a knob for years and you’ve absolutely turned it round,” says one admirer in Ondi Timoner’s hectic documentary. Those who still consider Brand a knob are unlikely to flock to a feature documentary on him, having already been subjected to the comedian’s many appearances on TV, radio, internet and stage, not to mention his “Booky Wooks”. Under-exposure has never been an issue with a figure who once took it upon himself to strip naked on top of a police van at a protest march (he’s amusingly self-deprecating about the incident, especially when it comes to the size of his knob).
But even his critics have to admit that Brand’s story is full of incident: drug addiction, sex, fame, celebrity marriage, media controversy, repentance, political activism and his self-diagnosed messiah complex – which is also the title of his latest standup show. The problem for Timoner, who came to the project at a relatively late stage, is how to shape the material into something new when Brand has already forged his own gospel out of it with such candour and articulacy.
Thankfully, there’s a surfeit of that material. Between excerpts from his live shows, we dash through the Brand biography at an almost attention-deficit clip. We see Brand revisiting his childhood home in Essex. There are a few revealing encounters with his parents (his father was a womaniser and a motivational speaker – an avenue that demands further exploration), and some micro-interviews with a bizarre array of talking heads, including Noel Gallagher, Mike Tyson, David Lynch and his ex-wife Katy Perry, who half-jokingly tells Brand: “You make me look good … That’s why I picked you.” The most entertaining moments are his outspoken media appearances, many of which we’ve seen already: his heroic hijacking of a US breakfast news programme; his acceptance speech at the GQ awards, where he pointed out that sponsor Hugo Boss outfitted the Nazis; Sachsgate, etc.
As with her acclaimed music documentary Dig!, though, Timoner has an eye for those revealing moments. Giving Stephen Merchant a tour of his new Los Angeles home, Brand expounds once again on his desire to create a “spiritual revolution”; Merchant questions why, then, he has a standard lamp made out of a gold-plated machine gun. There’s an all-too-brief combative exchange between Timoner and Brand in the latter stages that only hints at what could have been had she been in control from the start.
As for the political awakening, let’s just say it’s a work in progress. All too often, Brand’s success as an activist is presented in terms of YouTube hits and media response. Much is made of his alternative news channel The Trews – a project Brand has since wound down, and there’s disappointment when his own vaunted political tome, Revolution, is panned by the critics (including this paper). If nothing else, Brand’s passion and sincerity shine through. This feels like a study of a man still seeking how to apply them. You sense his story is not over yet.
• Russell Brand – A Second Coming is at the London film festival
