Tickled (2016)

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Such an amazing film that I prefer to sketch out the broader points in note form: 1. The story is well known. Obscure N.Z. reporter with limited funds stumbles across an odd story on social media, tries to investigate it, and in no time at all 3 "thugs" cross the ocean from the U.S. to intimidate him. Digging deeper, he discovers what APPEARS TO BE a lone sociopath with millions of inherited family money who has, just like a Bond villain, established a global network of "tickling" studios, not necessarily for the money but seemingly to satisfy odd personal desires. A pattern emerges suggesting that this individual has a multi-decade "pattern" of the most astonishing personal attacks (including identity theft and other federal crimes) against anyone anywhere who gets in his way. Yet (and this is never properly explained in the film) somehow manages to bend even the Justice system to his will.2. So how does the film-maker respond? By crowdfunding a documentary and then tracking down the arch-villain. (The film is really a cross between a true documentary and an investigative journalism piece, which is quite rare.) 3. That's all the spoilers for the story. The raw power of the doc, however, lies in its ability to tease the viewer's imagination about what lies at the end of the breadcrumb trail. By the time you meet the nemesis (who in fact passed away shortly after the premier) the viewer has already formed a "mental picture" of what he will be like. That's the real power and magic of the story.4. Possibly one of the greatest docs of all time, even has its own sequel. Highly recommended.

Believe it or not, this documentary about competitive tickling unexpectedly became one of the most gripping and intense films of last year. This film brilliantly sets out to expose some of the most bizarre evils in our world, as journalist David Farrier explores a secret, shocking underground world after stumbling across a weird, silly tickling video online. What follows is a series of twists and turns that feel like a slightly surrealist film noir, but it's ALL REAL!Although it works mostly as a bizarre thriller, "Tickled" is also surprisingly comic and tragic. There is certainly much humor to be found in such a strange story, and David Farrier's narration and personality can be naturally funny. Throughout the first half of the film, many witty quips are made from his charming, New Zealander mouth, and it really eases the viewer before tying them up in the mind numbingly crazy mystery ahead. The tragedy plays an even more important role in the story, as the audience is told tales of fraud, abuse, and destruction that will genuinely shock almost anyone. And then, the final phone call scene is one of the most powerful moments in any documentary film that I have seen, as we learn a hidden backstory that, like everything else in the film, is quite unexpected.My eyes were glued to the screen, and my stomach was bursting with butterflies as I was engaged in the shocking mysteries this film exposes. It is easily one of the top 3-5 films of last year, and is a true masterpiece of the documentary. It is extremely underrated in my opinion, despite the fact that most people who've seen it seem to really like it, because it just flat out did not receive the wild attention I think it deserves. I encourage everyone to go out and see this movie as soon as possible, despite the fact that it did not even get an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary, which is absolutely ridiculous!

The story unveiled by Tickled is bizarre, is weird, is scary and even horrifying. It starts as one of Ferrier's usual researches for an odd story. He found an odd tickling sporting competition sponsored by an American company, contacted the company and the abuse and threats immediately began. Being bullied and threatened didn't stop Ferrier, on the contrary pushed Ferrier and his cameraman Reeve to pursue the story further. They ended unveiling why such an innocent thing as tickling has some people in the USA angry about being investigated, and whom these people exactly are. Tickled unveils a sub-world that is equally amusing, ridiculous and disturbing, and that tickling movies aren't such an innocent thing.This is an indie documentary, made with not many means, and therefore, even more valuable, as the bullying and pressure these guys had could not be counterbalanced with, say, the support of a news channel or a corporation. The investigation is well carried out, and they really dig deeper into the funny-not-so-funny world of tickling despite the pressure not to do so. The lack of means also shows in the form of shortcomings to carry out the research. I found a few things I thought deserved a different treatment or more research and digging. Firstly, these guys didn't take enough precautions to protect some of the confidants, those willing to speak about the bad guy off camera. If you record a conversation of a confidant who is scared of the bad guy and then reproduce the conversation on camera without voice distortion and without protecting the identity of that person, you are turning that person into a target. Besides, I would have loved more details about the nasty guy, especially about his work as educator in different schools and his life in jail. Why not interviewing some of his co-workers at the High Schools he worked? Was he weird? Did he show any odd behavior with youngsters? Was he a problematic person? Was he in good terms with other teachers? Also, this guy was tried and sent to jail in the past, so there must be a humongous amount of information about him in the lawsuit paperwork, and plenty of people he met in jail who might help provide a better profile of this disturbed dangerous guy.Overall, this is an amazing story, and a very interesting and entertaining documentary. In my case, I discovered that tickling is fetish, and that the guy behind the company is actually a mentally disturbed person with some sort of sexual dysfunction and denial of his own gayness and, most importantly a bully with tons of money, a teacher turned lawyer, a ruthless person who punishes anybody who doesn't do what he wants, by destroying their reputation and their lives.Kudos to Ferrier and Reeve for such a great investigation. I hope they are able to get more money so they can dig further, get proper legal protection, and offered more privacy to their confidants.

The mere idea of "competative tickling" is so out of this world that of course you would make a documentary about it! Add in a bunch of outrageous threats from the company once you look into it - It's gold from the get-go!Tickled follows journalist David Farrier, and Dylan Reeve as they dig deep down the rabbit hole to the sickest places imaginable.. And no! None of them is the tickling itself!The film is fantastic, it takes itself serious and even when moments arrive where they easily could mock and go for a quick laugh they stay factual and in the most parts let the "Jane O'Brien Media" speak for themselves. Tickled is the best film of the year so far.John du Pont, Robert Durst, Jeffery Epstein, David D'Amato(?)