A young man watches a show on a ratty, old television. He's maybe in his mid-twenties, sitting in a darkened room that's stacked with VHS tapes. On the screen, two young women and a person in a bear costume are fighting a snarling sun with a face - The titular show.Next, you see the young man eating dinner with his family, everyone talking animatedly about the show. The father says that his son's essay about a particular story arc is highly implausible because of various show mechanics. At the end of the meal, everyone stands up and shakes hands.
Kind of weird, but whatever.
Outside, you see they live in a bunker in the sands of the middle of nowhere, hidden behind a clear layer of plastic or glass, watching the outside world. The young man firmly believes that the outside air is dangerous, and that's it's death to go outside.
Minutes later, the bunker is raider, the parents are arrested, and the young man is taken into captivity to meet his real family.
This is James, a man kidnapped as an infant by university professors who holed him away in a bunker and let him watch only one television program, "Brigsby Bear".
There's such an air of uncanniness that I love. Everyone is wary on how to approach this man they believe damaged, but he's really just a bit awkward and socially stunted.
During a session, the therapist says that James is the only person who has ever seen "Brigsby Bear", as his "father" (Mark Hamill), had an entire studio set up to produce the show nearly by himself, and the chat board he visited about the show was populated by bot accounts.
Considering James even owns official-looking merchandise, what kind of dedication would one have to do that? The adults find it creepy, but James' only concern is that the show isn't finished.
He can't just let it die after twenty five years - And thus enlists to help of his teenage sister's friends, with the man in charge of his rescue investigation, to finish it.
James goes through the film with this point blank, forward personality, knowing nothing about social protocols, and gets things done. I've always enjoyed characters like this, who eschew rules to do whatever harmless thing they want.
His new friends are on board they find the story and mythos of Brigsby very cool. I'm not sure kids today would be that kind and accommodating about it, but this guy has already been kidnapped and lived a lie, why make the film unpleasant to watch with asshole teenagers.
James' original parents go from cautious acceptance, to pushing him to move forward. They relent, come to terms with it, and even let him visit his captor in prison - So he can record his parts of the movie script.
The adults still worry that James may never grow out of this obsession, but by film's end... Congratulations, from everyone, for making a movie out of it, and his hallucination of Brigsby disappears, granting him the necessary closure to move forward.
There's a movement on Tumblr (I know), where people who have been traumatized in some way flock to art that shows the abuse they suffered or that had a role in their abuse. This movie heavily leans on that, independent to whatever people on the site are saying or doing.
Some people heal by fixing what broke them. It's a struggle for his new family to realize that, but in the end they do.
Wish they had leaned a little more into the online sensation bit besides young people looking at their phones and smiling for a minute. Internet culture moves quickly, but I could have done with a "EATS THE STELLAPHIS CRYSTAL FOR IMMORTAL LIFE - DIES ANYWAY" meme.
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