THE STORY OF FURIOUS PETE (George Tsioutsioulas, Canada). 85 minutes. Rating: NNN
Tsioutsioulas’s portrait of Pete Czerwinski – an anorexic turned competitive eater and fitness enthusiast – walks a fine line between encouraging viewers to goggle at the sheer spectacle of what Czerwinski does and trying to figure out why he does it.
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The doc never comes up with an answer because Czerwinski doesn’t seem to have one himself. He’s not big on introspection and seems reluctant to discuss either his psychology or his physiology, preferring to just go ahead and do what he does – and put the videos up on YouTube – without thinking too much about it. He’s much more willing to talk about his mother’s battle with multiple sclerosis and his dedication to raising money for MS research.
Maybe Czerwinski’s attitude is essential to bouncing back from something as debilitating as anorexia, but you come away wishing Tsioutsioulas had pressed him a little harder.
