"Tickled" is a 2016 documentary about "competitive endurance tickling" on the internet. In my opinion, it should have at least been nominated for an Oscar. It's truly a documentary you've never seen before in classrooms. No, this movie is too good for classrooms.
It's a shame that not many people have seen "Tickled." The film directors, David Farrier and Dylan Reeve, risked so many threats and lawsuits while making this documentary and I think that deserves some recognition. I'll try not to give away too much about what happens "story-wise" and I'll just tell you what makes this documentary different from other boring documentaries we've seen before.
IT'S NOT BORING!
This film is not dull in any way. The story, tone, pacing, cinematography and the music keeps the audience's attention the entire running time. Now, I am aware that there are other documentaries that are not boring. I'm just saying from my experience in school, almost every documentary shown in class was history videos of reenactments and historians talking facts. The reenactments were not even exciting or shot well. However, with "Tickled," you will get easily invested in learning the new information it presents and you will want to know even more after the film is done.
THE STORY
Like I said before, this isn't your usual story for a documentary. At the start of the film, the audience meets David Farrier, a New Zealand Journalist who is known for reporting on weird, fun stories. When he encounters a video on "endurance tickling," he immediately wanted to have an interview with the producer of these videos, Jane O'Brain Media. However, his response wasn't so friendly...
Despite not getting that interview, he released his discovery on the internet and people were simply amazed at how tickling videos are a thing on the internet for people to enjoy. Because people wanted to find out more about this "sport,"Farrier decided to make a documentary. As he discovers more information about Jane O'Brain Media, the laughs die down, and the movie turns into a crime-horror film.
THE PACING
As a humble audience member, you might not know what exactly "pacing" is in terms of movie-making. However, we all feel the pace of a movie whether we know it or not. Pacing refers to how fast or slow the story is told to the audience. With "Tickled," the pacing is just right. It's slow enough so the audience completely understands the information and stakes, and it's fast enough so the audience doesn't get bored. The editor, Simon Coldrick, must have gone through hours of footage and god bless him. This documentary could have easily looked unorganized and rushed if it weren't for his editing.
THE TONE
The story and tone go hand-in-hand and it makes the film that much more intriguing to watch. The tone, in the beginning, is a little light-hearted and goofy but changes real quick as more information gets discovered. By the end, the intensity is so high it will have you at the edge of your seat.
THE CINEMATOGRAPHY
Dominic Fryer adds his talent of cinematography to help perfectly pace this movie and add beautiful shots throughout the whole film. It also helps establish the creepiness of the story. The sound design of creepy laughter compliment the establishing shots.
THE MUSIC
It's not something iconic or grand like in other movies like "James Bond" or "The Avengers" that have dominant themes. However, the music supports the tension and creepiness of the scenes on-screen. For example, the picture shown above is a guy who has a tickling fetish and he has this other muscular guy tied down to a chair. While the guy is tickling him, the slow-motion effect and the music makes the tickling look like torture and inhumane.
Overall, this movie deserves so much more attention and recognition from people. The directors, producers and everyone who helped work on this film gave a lot of thought and passion and it's so refreshing to see. Nowadays, Hollywood movies are being controlled by production companies that only care about the money they get from the box office.
With this movie, you can tell that the directors really cared in presenting their film in the best possible way and truly appreciate anyone that watches the film. Also, I think with more people aware of the situation this documentary goes into, there's a higher chance of bringing justice to the perpetrator.
So yeah, thank you so much for reading! As always I would love to hear what you think in the comments. Have you heard or seen this movie? If so, what was your reaction to it? I know for me, I'll probably won't tickle someone ever again. If you still haven't watched it, change that right now and click this link or watch it on HBO/HBO GO.
If you're curious about what happened after the release of this film, there's a new short feature on HBO GO called "The Tickle King" which I highly recommend you watch because it's just as shocking as the movie.
