Aaron's Thoughts
Sundance 2025 #1
The difficulty (& also the beauty) in reviewing a film like “Andre is an idiot” is that the whole project is essentially a reflection of Andre & his life. Sure, the mistake he makes & what that later leads to, but also the way he made others laugh & loved those around him.
The tension in watching this play out as an audience member is that we ultimately have no connection to Andre. Sure, he is a funny guy that lived a wild life prior to this tragedy, but at the end of the day Andre is nothing more than a random guy. This results in some moments towards the beginning of the film where one could easily think “Why should I even care about this guy”?
As the film progress along, you realize that the beauty in Andre being a random person is that you can much more easily project whoever you want onto him (whether that be a loved one, a friend, or even yourself). If this was a famous movie star or another celebrity, you wouldn’t be able to do that as easily because you would fixate on watching how that specific person went through this.
Watching Andre go through this is much less about him specifically (although there is much to learn from how he navigates it) & much more about just watching another human go through this.
After all, what is a more effective PSA? Watching a silly ad reminding you to go get a colonoscopy? Or spending 87 minutes watching a joyful father, husband, and friend slowly wither away because he neglected to get one?
