The movie: The Outsider The director: Nicholas Jarecki The stars: James Toback, Woody Allen, Robert Downey Jr., Neve Campbell, Mike Tyson, Brett Ratner, Brooke Shields
Following in the footsteps of older brothers Eugene (“Why We Fight”) and Andrew (“Capturing the Friedmans”), 26-year-old Nicholas Jarecki has constructed a compelling but flawed documentary about nonconformist filmmaker James Toback. “The Outsider” follows Toback in 2004 as he shoots the film “When Will I Be Loved” in just 12 days. Adulatory commentary concerning the writer-director’s legendary appetite for drugs and women, along with his unorthodox moviemaking methods is provided by author Norman Mailer, Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown, and frequent Toback collaborator Robert Downey Jr. As the hurrahs roll on with nary a disparagement to be found, it becomes apparent that Jarecki got a little too cozy with his subject.
While there’s no denying that he has danced to the beat of his own drum throughout a career spanning three decades, other than Toback’s brief discourse on his bohemian parents, little insight is offered into what makes the man tick. Jarecki effectively incorporates greatest hits footage from Toback’s filmography — “Bugsy” (which he wrote and Barry Levinson directed), “Fingers,” “Two Guys and a Girl,” and “The Pick-Up Artist” — and manages to score what might be Woody Allen’s first-ever on-set, on-camera interview. Production value is low, but not distractingly so. Overall, “The Outsider” plays like a lengthy DVD extra, and should appeal to fans of Toback and his school of maverick filmmaking.
