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Bob and the Monster
Keirda Bahruth (USA, Next)
Wednesday, May 4, 9 p.m.
TIFF Bell Lightbox 2 (350 King Street West)
Friday, May 6, 9:30 p.m.
Cumberland 3 (159 Cumberland Street)
Like any episode of A&E’s Intervention, Bob and the Monster finds itself facing down a quandary that vexes all stories of addiction and self-abuse: as a viewer, it’s obviously more interesting to watch someone self-destruct than it is to see them heal themselves. Monster follows the descent and rebirth of Bob Forrest, singer/songwriter for halfway-seminal L.A. post-punkers Thelonious Monster (and later, The Bicycle Thief).
A key figure in the heady party scene of late-’80s L.A., Forrest partied with members of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane’s Addiction, and Fishbone before emerging into music himself as frontman for Thelonious Monster. Renowned for writhing around on stage like a trashier Jim Morrison, scaling the stage scaffolding at outdoor festivals, and trying to score heroin from audience members, Forrest was the kind of “charismatic” musician whose appeal was tied in directly with his apparent desire to self-immolate. And with plenty of archival and broadcast footage to draw on, Bob and the Monster gives us lots of this.
But, cold-hearted thought it may be to admit, the film peters off when Bob gets clean and reinvents himself as a drug counsellor (who has appeared on shows like Celebrity Rehab). The arc is passably interesting, but Bahruth’s film works best when it’s playing out as a blown-up episode of Behind the Music.