How to Be

Plot

Art (Pattinson) is not talented, but aspires to be a musician. He has a dead-end job at a supermarket, despite having a degree (which he doesn't seem to value much). His girlfriend ends their relationship. Art is then forced to move back home with his cold and neglectful parents (played by Pidgeon and Michael Irving). Art buys a book titled, It's Not Your Fault. Upon reading it, he tries to follow the self-help book's advice. He decides to use inheritance money to first buy a car, and then pay for a Canadian therapist, Dr. Levi Ellington (Jones), the book's author, to come to his home in England and help Art get his life on track, about which his parents are less than thrilled.

Despite his unsupportive parents, Art attempts with his new life coach and two slightly unbalanced friends Nikki (Pearce) and Ronnie (White) to find a balance in his life, true happiness, and a good relationship with his parents.

The film also stars Jeremy Hardy as Art's superior at the care centre at which he volunteers.

Cast

Production

Casting for the film took more than a year. Initially Simon Amstell was attached to the project. Talking about the casting Irving said that "He (Rob) understood what we wanted to achieve, he was musical and had completely the right look. To find all those elements was incredible: the final piece in the puzzle."

For his role of awkward and geeky musician in the film, Pattinson's looks were altered. According to Irving "I said, 'You're banned from cutting your hair between now and the shoot, we had to give him the most awkward haircut we possibly could, and we cut his trouser length a little bit too high. Things like that played down his apparent good looks." And about his musical abilities, Irving added that "He downplayed how good he was, a lot of the time he would turn out to have a really good technique (while playing the guitar and harmonica) and we told him he needed to play it more simply."

Filming took place in early 2007.

Distribution

How to Be was released in the United States by IFC Festival Direct on 29 April 2009. Leading up to the release, the director, Oliver Irving, took the film on a United States screening tour. The DVD was released first in the United Kingdom on 18 May 2009 and was released in the United States on 17 November 2009.

Music

The score for the film was composed by Joe Hastings and songs for the album was chosen by music supervisor Gary Moore. The album contain 23-tracks, three original songs performed by Robert Pattinson and by musician-actor Johnny White, who plays Ronny in the film. It also features "Old Man" by Love, "Clear Spot" by Captain Beefheart and "Hammond Song" by The Roches. The album was released by Dreamboat Records on 28 April 2009.

Track listing

1. Opening Credits - Joe Hastings
2. "Chokin' on the Dust" (Part 1) - Robert Pattinson
3. "It's not your fault" - Joe Hastings
4. "Hell Awaits" - The Rollercoaster Project
5. "You don’t actually have things all that bad"
6. "Old Man" - Love
7. "Chokin' on the Dust" (Part 2) - Robert Pattinson
8. "Sometimes we all need a little help" - Joe Hastings
9. "Dr Ellington Arrives" - Joe Hastings
10. "Visualize a time" - Joe Hastings
11. "Jam Session"
12. "1996" - The Rollercoaster Project
13. "Nikki's Song" - Mike Pearce
14. "Puzzle" - Joe Hastings
15. "Cemetery" - Joe Hastings
16. "Off License" - Joe Hastings
17. "Process 1" - The Rollercoaster Project
18. "Clear Spot" - Captain Beefheart
19. "Hammond Song" - The Roches
20. "Final Call" - Joe Hastings
21. "You're not a nobody"
22. "Doin' Fine" - Robert Pattinson
23. End Credits - Joe Hastings

Critical response

The film received mixed reviews, while Pattinson's performance was praised. Prairie Miller of News Blaze gave film three stars out of five and praised Pattinson's performance by saying that "(he played) A kind of problem child with whiskers in this delayed coming of age family dyfunction outing, Pattinson impresses with his broad range, while doing daffy and despair simultaneously." Geo Euzebio in her review for Cineplayer criticized the film by saying that "seems more of the same: A dramedy about characters and dysfunctional families, with humor and structure based on American independent comedy." But ultimately praised Pattinson that "(his) performance is interesting and he hits the pitch with the pseudo-musician who only scratches few chords on the guitar, but still want to live their art."

However Peter Debruge from Variety gave the film a negative review by saying that "(it) is a taxing reminder that middle-class depression ranks among cinema's least engaging topics."

Film festivals

How to Be had its world premiere at the 2008 Slamdance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Honorable Mention. It has since been chosen to appear at: