Fantastic!

Excellent, a Must See

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

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!

And it isn't even a thriller. The tenseness I felt watching this movie is something I never felt before. This movie is a prime example of true investigative journalism, starting with something seemingly innocent and it ending up being one of the most disturbing things I have heard about. I believe this movie is a must see, even for people who do not like documentaries. Because this story could have easily been fictional. David does a great job letting you see this movie trough his eyes and trough they eyes of the people affected by it, I can only imagine the dread and fear he and they felt making this documentary. I liked that David left in his struggles while making this movie, even though the movie sometimes slowed down because of it, and that's my only critique. I have great respect for the fearlessness David and Dylan had making this movie, and for the people they managed to interview. Tickled is a crazy adventure about something I didn't know I wanted to know about. Its frightening, Interesting and sometimes a little silly. The title might seem funny, but believe me this movie is no joke.

There won't be spoilers until after the third paragraph, so read the first two if you haven't seen the film yet."Tickled" is funny, weird, depressing, uncomfortable, intense, and one of the most unbelievable true stories I have ever seen. After seeing it, I just honestly don't know what to say.To start, the score is fantastic and heightens every moment of the film. Whether it be absolutely hilarious, or incredibly harrowing, each scene wouldn't be the same without the score. While the subject of a documentary is probably the most important part - and, believe me, this is a fantastic subject - I believe the editing is the second most important, because while they don't have time to stage scenes or dialogue, the editing is always deliberate, and in this case, the film is wonderfully edited and never stops moving.Now, the rest of this film is hard to talk about without sort of ruining it for those who haven't seen it, so I'm gonna put a big SPOILER WARNING! right about here.David Farrier is a popular journalist in New Zealand that specializes in quirky, strange stories. After seeing a montage of some of his other stories towards the beginning, it seems a competitive tickling competition would fit right in. However, suddenly, David is being attacked by the supposed owner of this organization. What he begins to uncover is surprising revelation after surprising revelation, which slowly unravels until an entire underground, almost fight club-esque circuit of tickling fetishism is revealed, all run by a single man on a massive power trip with nothing to stop him. It is absolutely incredible journalism that digs deeper and deeper until a small, insecure human is revealed behind endless layers of lies and deceit. This is one of the best films of 2016.