Slam23
Active member
- Jul 21, 2012
- 1,279
- 2
If you would like to see the documentary yourself without spoilers, please stop reading and go see it for yourself. It is on Vimeo, or maybe even in a theater near you. Enjoy it!
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So I really like documentaries, and I really like pinball. Therefore I love pinball documentaries. I was very eager to see Wizard Mode, the documentary about Robert Gagno, a Canadian and world class pinball player who suffers from autism.
As a neuropsychologist I was especially intrigued by that latter fact too. On the one hand you would expect that pinball would attract autistic people. You can play by yourself against a machine, there are a ton of rules to pore over excessively, and one can see how pinball in general would lend itself easily to being a fascination (heck, I know that my own male brain -which are all slightly autistic to begin with-, is easily seduced by the lure of pinball). On the other hand you would expect a danger of overstimulation, maybe not so much from one machine, but an arcade or convention hall full of pinball machines (and people) would provide plenty of stimuli. Also, a pinball machine is prone to (cruel) randomness and unpredictability, not the thing autistic people like very much, they crave total control over their environment, in part to prevent sudden overstimulation or confrontation with the unknown.
Both sides are on display beautifully in the documentary. You'll follow Robert in 2015 and 2016 when he is in the latter half of his twenties, as he tries to assert himself as a top player in the usual tournaments: Pinburgh and PAPA come most to the forefront. This is intercut with video flashbacks from his youth. His parents are very present too in the documentary, as they lovingly try to guide Robert in his pinball adventures, but also in helping him become more independent, as is his own wish.
The documentary tries to get the message across that Robert has benefitted from pinball as a means to connect to other people and get more sociable. It's hard to say if that is really the case, or if that capacity for development was in him from the beginning, but you can see that the environment that pinball offers, is one that is conducive to Robert. He definitely feels a connect to the pinball crowd, which if you turn that around is maybe saying that the autism gradient is slightly higher in that population to begin with.
But even then, there are poignant scenes in which his disability comes across very strong, especially his inability to judge the appropiate social cues and behaviours. He will talk seemingly randomly to people around him after he loses a ball, not noting that their attention was elsewhere. I must say that most of his fellow players tolerate his behaviour remarkably well. Maybe his high skill level gives him some kind of unwritten permission to be idiosyncratic as often is the case with top players in any kind of sport, or maybe a lot of the other players know of his disability and therefore have more patience with him.
But aside from that he is definitely very likeable too, he smiles a lot, has a definite soft side to his character and you will want to root for him. And one of the really touching sequences in the documentary deals with his obsession with hugs. It's not common for autistic people to like body contact (being a floppy or "stiff" baby in relation to body contact, or even actively avoiding it altogether, is one of the first hallmark signs of autism in babies), or it has to be very specific and initiated by them. Robert even studies everything he can find about hugs on Google, how many kinds of hugs there are, which are appropiate for certain kind of social situations and how long the acceptable duration is. He seems to genuinely enjoy giving and in part receiving them, but also displays his autistic side when he discusses the fact that "hugs are positive, because I read that they release a good kind of chemical in your body". It's at those moments, that you realize how different perception and information processing is in autism.
I also really like how his reaction to failure and success is put into clear focus, he really suffers when he loses and that is almost a physical thing to watch. He displays in body language and anguished facial expression what we all feel inside when we are subject to that one cruel drain or houseball on the worst possible moment. His quest to become independent and a fully participating member of society, even talking about getting in a relationship and being a father goes beyond the pinball and really is the central plot to this documentary I feel. Pinball provides the backdrop.
The main (but minor) complaint I have about the documentary is that I really would have liked to see in more detail how Robert's playing style evolved and maybe differentiates him from the rest. How does his autism help or hinder him? It's touched upon in several sequences but never gets into real depth. Maybe that would have shifted the focus too much to the pinball and would have detracted from the main story.
All in all, it's one of the most moving documentaries I have watched in a long time, and as a pinball fan, I got a more than decent fix. Very recommended!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
So I really like documentaries, and I really like pinball. Therefore I love pinball documentaries. I was very eager to see Wizard Mode, the documentary about Robert Gagno, a Canadian and world class pinball player who suffers from autism.
As a neuropsychologist I was especially intrigued by that latter fact too. On the one hand you would expect that pinball would attract autistic people. You can play by yourself against a machine, there are a ton of rules to pore over excessively, and one can see how pinball in general would lend itself easily to being a fascination (heck, I know that my own male brain -which are all slightly autistic to begin with-, is easily seduced by the lure of pinball). On the other hand you would expect a danger of overstimulation, maybe not so much from one machine, but an arcade or convention hall full of pinball machines (and people) would provide plenty of stimuli. Also, a pinball machine is prone to (cruel) randomness and unpredictability, not the thing autistic people like very much, they crave total control over their environment, in part to prevent sudden overstimulation or confrontation with the unknown.
Both sides are on display beautifully in the documentary. You'll follow Robert in 2015 and 2016 when he is in the latter half of his twenties, as he tries to assert himself as a top player in the usual tournaments: Pinburgh and PAPA come most to the forefront. This is intercut with video flashbacks from his youth. His parents are very present too in the documentary, as they lovingly try to guide Robert in his pinball adventures, but also in helping him become more independent, as is his own wish.
The documentary tries to get the message across that Robert has benefitted from pinball as a means to connect to other people and get more sociable. It's hard to say if that is really the case, or if that capacity for development was in him from the beginning, but you can see that the environment that pinball offers, is one that is conducive to Robert. He definitely feels a connect to the pinball crowd, which if you turn that around is maybe saying that the autism gradient is slightly higher in that population to begin with.
But even then, there are poignant scenes in which his disability comes across very strong, especially his inability to judge the appropiate social cues and behaviours. He will talk seemingly randomly to people around him after he loses a ball, not noting that their attention was elsewhere. I must say that most of his fellow players tolerate his behaviour remarkably well. Maybe his high skill level gives him some kind of unwritten permission to be idiosyncratic as often is the case with top players in any kind of sport, or maybe a lot of the other players know of his disability and therefore have more patience with him.
But aside from that he is definitely very likeable too, he smiles a lot, has a definite soft side to his character and you will want to root for him. And one of the really touching sequences in the documentary deals with his obsession with hugs. It's not common for autistic people to like body contact (being a floppy or "stiff" baby in relation to body contact, or even actively avoiding it altogether, is one of the first hallmark signs of autism in babies), or it has to be very specific and initiated by them. Robert even studies everything he can find about hugs on Google, how many kinds of hugs there are, which are appropiate for certain kind of social situations and how long the acceptable duration is. He seems to genuinely enjoy giving and in part receiving them, but also displays his autistic side when he discusses the fact that "hugs are positive, because I read that they release a good kind of chemical in your body". It's at those moments, that you realize how different perception and information processing is in autism.
I also really like how his reaction to failure and success is put into clear focus, he really suffers when he loses and that is almost a physical thing to watch. He displays in body language and anguished facial expression what we all feel inside when we are subject to that one cruel drain or houseball on the worst possible moment. His quest to become independent and a fully participating member of society, even talking about getting in a relationship and being a father goes beyond the pinball and really is the central plot to this documentary I feel. Pinball provides the backdrop.
The main (but minor) complaint I have about the documentary is that I really would have liked to see in more detail how Robert's playing style evolved and maybe differentiates him from the rest. How does his autism help or hinder him? It's touched upon in several sequences but never gets into real depth. Maybe that would have shifted the focus too much to the pinball and would have detracted from the main story.
All in all, it's one of the most moving documentaries I have watched in a long time, and as a pinball fan, I got a more than decent fix. Very recommended!
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