Commentary: Russell Brand doc excoriates a predatory chameleon and the culture that celebrated him
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Set us as preferred Yet another shape-shifting convicted felon is starring in a new documentary, but unlike Elizabeth Holmes in “You Can See Everything,” Russell Brand did not invite director Olivia Isaacs into his home to engage in a cinematic staring contest.Not that he wouldn’t have done it if given the opportunity (and a very different filmmaker).As Isaacs’ traditional and deeply layered documentary “Russell Brand: Open Secret” makes clear, Brand is, in addition to being a sexual predator, a canny media manipulator who openly reinvented himself to exploit an ever-evolving zeitgeist and provide cover for his crimes.
A navel-gazing doc would be right up his alley.Brand, however, refused to respond to requests to participate in “Open Secret,” and he is, of course, now in prison.The documentary began production after a damning investigation by London Times and Sunday Times reporters Rosamund Urwin and Charlotte Wace in 2023.
It premiered Friday on Netflix, a mere eight days after Brand was found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault, and four days after he was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison.(There is an ongoing investigation into additional rape allegations.)Urwin and Wace (who joined the four-year reporting process about midway through), provide the narrative spine of “Open Secret,” chronicling the decades of rumors (which, as with Bill Cosby, gained attention when stand-ups began directly calling Brand a rapist) and the difficulty of finding women who would speak of their experiences on the record.Several did and do here.
None of them were part of the recent trial, though at least one is part of the new investigation, and all women were, at various times, in a relationship with Brand.Only two do not describe being sexually assaulted, including Amanda A...