Stream It Or Skip It: ‘It Takes a Lunatic’ on Netflix, a Documentary Profile of New York City Theatre Guru Wynn Hardman

Netflix documentary It Takes a Lunatic profiles Wynn Handman, who’s hailed as “the keystone of American theatre.” He founded the highly influential American Place Theatre in New York City, directing a number of plays; he taught acting classes for more than 50 years, and the likes of Denzel Washington, Lauren Graham, Michael Douglas, Richard Gere and Mia Farrow are among his many former pupils. Handman is a superstar in theatre circles, but he isn’t a household name. Whether this in-depth profile of his life and work will change that remains to be seen.

IT TAKES A LUNATIC: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Opening commentators in It Takes a Lunatic describe Handman as an outspoken, crotchety, rude, not threatening, reasonable, rational, intellectual lunatic. If he sounds like a bundle of contradictions, well, that just makes him part of the human race, right?

If you’re expecting a chronicle of a “lunatic” and his colorful exploits, take a step back. The movie leans on the “reasonable, rational” aspect of Handman’s personality. He’s 97 years old, still teaching and ably narrating much of the documentary. We see him bringing the lights up and down in his actor’s studio as his students perform scenes; he critiques their work with a firm but kind tone. Frankly, he doesn’t come off as a “lunatic” at all.

Director Billy Lyons (with co-directors Kim Ferraro and Seth Isler) jumps between relatively brief snippets outlining Handman’s personal life and a more thorough, linear account of the American Place Theatre’s prominent productions. He championed experimental works by diverse playwrights, and was a cornerstone of New York’s Off-Broadway theatre community. Douglas, Gere, John Leguizamo, Aasif Mandvi, Sam Shepard and many other talking heads contribute to the film, praising Handman for his lifelong dedication to the dramatic arts.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Ken Burns documentaries come to mind — they’re thorough, detailed and visually static by design. But they’re more inclusive in tone than It Takes a Lunatic.

Performance Worth Watching: We get a fascinating audio snippet of a Gere performance, part of a lengthy monologue from Killer’s Head, a narrative about a man in the electric chair written by Sam Shepard.

Memorable Dialogue: “The first thing that comes to mind when I hear the name Wynn Handman is the name Wynn Handman,” Andre Bishop, director of the Lincoln Center Theater, says. “I never heard of anyone named Wynn, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone named Handman, and then I decided his name is so interesting.”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Bishop’s quote above kicks off the documentary on a note, all right. A weirdly boring, obvious note. And what follows is an undynamic two-hour examination of a man who, by all accounts, is clearly not undynamic. He seems like a nice enough guy, someone who exerted significant effort toward furthering the dramatic arts in New York — and by extension, the rest of America — by providing a venue for challenging, vital work. If he is all those aforementioned things (rude, crotchety, etc.), we never really see the full spectrum. Perhaps he’s not a “lunatic” in the conventional sense. Perhaps I should give the film the benefit of the doubt. Or perhaps it’s too inside-baseball to be appreciated beyond those who already know the name Wynn Handman, or understand the significance of how he “smuggled” artists from downtown Manhattan to work in uptown Manhattan.

So there’s very little here for the average Netflix watcher, or even documentary enthusiasts. It Takes a Lunatic is dry like an encyclopedia entry. There apparently isn’t much available video footage of American Place productions (or maybe it was a rights issue), considering how the film includes almost none. So Lyons leans heavily on the Burns style: lots of talking heads and cameras moving slowly over still photographs. It’s easy to admire Handman as an innovator. How could we not? But the film never captures a true sense of the man and his passion. It tells us about all kinds of amazing things, but shows us very little of it. As presented here, it would make a better podcast.

Our Call: SKIP IT. With an asterisk — it might be worthwhile for hardcore NY theatre enthusiasts.

Your Call:

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Stream It Takes a Lunatic on Netflix