TICKLED – Review

Documentaries are often tagged with an unfair “rep’. Lots of people think of them as ultra somber, serious cinema exercises (many dread them as “homework”). So, why is this flick being released right in the middle of Summer, the time for mindless, fluffy entertainment?  Well, that’s because it is entertaining, just as funny as many comedies. The shocker is that it’s also  as gripping as any number of thrillers, filled with cloak and dagger operations with true threats and deception. Audiences will be surprised almost as much as the film makers were. You see, this is another example of the smaller doc subset, namely the project that begins with one goal or focus, then changes during its production. 2012’s THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES started as a light-hearted look at the excesses of the rich before making an abrupt turn to economic disaster and family drama. Just a few weeks ago WEINER grabbed audiences with its turnabout from a story of a stunning political comeback to a tragedy of unbridled ego and obsession. Now, movie fans get to experience the roller coaster ride taken by two writer/directors when they look into the silly, but eventually very somber, underground world of TICKLED.

The twisted tale begins with a TV reporter in New Zealand (if this were an Erle Stanley Gardner Perry Mason mystery it might be titled “The Case of the Curious Kiwi”). David Farrier’s designation at the station was “entertainment features”, you know, the celebrity interview or the profile of a “colorful local” that would often be in the center of a lunchtime “info-tainment” show or occupy the final moments of the night-time news broadcast. In the course of his many hours of research (those segments are tough to find!) David discovered a page on a popular social network website. It was from “Jane O’Brien Media” and offered links to videos of an unusual “sport” they dubbed “Ultimate Tickling Endurance Competitions”. These videos usually consisted of a fit young man strapped or tied to a mat or cushion who giggles uncontrollably as one or more other fit young men tickle him with their fingers or feathers or brushes. David is startled and amused by this activity, so he decides to contact “O’Brien” in preparation for his next news story. The response, from a female PR agent, stopped him in his tracks. In a long rant, she threatened legal action if this “pervert” (David is a high-profile member of the Gay community there) continued with his inquiries. This blatant homophobia stunned David, and, of course, made him more determined. He joined forces with a writer/film maker/computer expert Dylan Reeve, and the two began to unravel the tangled web surrounding this “sport”. Three O’Brien reps even fly to New Zealand to meet David. But he and Dylan are soon racking up the frequent flyer miles themselves. They go to the US, to meet a former contestant who dared to request his videos be taken off the web. Brutal cyber-retaliation soon cost him jobs. In LA, a “recruiter” tells of the nasty “payback” when he left the “company”. Further digging leads to the frozen tundra of the Northern states, America’s heartland, where young men would receive almost daily deliveries of expensive gifts and envelopes full of cash in exchange for more video “matches”. Internet forensics finally reveal a mastermind, a person living in the NYC area that David and Dylan decide to confront on camera.

First time documentary feature film makers Farrier and Reeve have concocted a compelling, enthralling, very entertaining motion picture. Farrier’s amiable “every-man” persona makes him a superb guide through this bizarre (to most) sub-culture. He never flaunts any moral superiority over his subject, just a healthy curiosity that brings the viewer “down the rabbit hole” along with him. But he and Reeve are not only excellent storytellers, they’re terrific hi-tech detectives busting through phony online accounts and IP addresses. Like many private eyes, the two play the “waiting game” as they “stake out” their subjects, knowing that they may be in physical, as well as legal, danger. The film is paced like a zippy procedural, and graced with lots of lush location photography (New Zealand looks quite lovely). This is particularly true of their side trip to central Florida to meet a benign tickling video enthusiast, a man with a sunny demeanor whose long-time quirk became a career, the opposite of the shadowy figure that sparked the main investigation. That figure becomes Farrier and Reeve’s own internet “Moby Dick” (or, for doc buffs, the title General Motors’ exec in Michael Moore’s first flick ROGER AND ME), and makes the story’s finale a real “nail-biter”. You’ll be amused and perhaps giggle a bit as you’re introduced to this “sport”, but by the end of this engaging 92 minute documentary you’ll remember the strange, fascinating mystery at the heart of TICKLED.