Film
The Amazing Johnathan + satellite Q&A
- Director
- Benjamin Berman
- Certificate
- TBA
- Running Time
- 91 mins
One of those self-consciously meta documentaries about the making of a documentary, this one divided US critics between those who found the filmmaker charming and others who considered him embarrassing and annoying.
Benjamin Berman has certainly chosen a fascinating subject for his first film: US illusionist The Amazing Johnathan (real name: John Szeles), who specialised in shock and awe back in the 1990s. Until, that is, he was diagnosed with a terminal heart condition and given a year to live. Three years later, much to everyone’s surprise, the incorrigible meth enthusiast is still alive and preparing for a comeback tour. Enter Berman, who appears somewhat out of his depth as the story takes many a twist and turn that may leave you pondering his ethics (or lack of them) or wondering whether you’re simply watching an extended stunt. Little wonder this stuff appealed to Louis Theroux, who’ll be conducting a satellite Q&A with Berman after the screening.
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