The world of competitive endurance tickling is one that could easily be used to humiliate everyone involved. This is something that you witness during the film through the manipulation and blackmail of these people by the ones responsible. The directors of this documentary could be just as guilty of that if they’re not careful. On more than one occasion, I could argue that they are guilty of exploiting these people and making fun of the “sport” in the process. But at the end of the day, Tickled is a well rounded documentary that does a good enough job at exploring the basics, even with all those issues.
Starring and directed by Dylan Reeve and David Farrier, the two men go looking for something beyond what they bargained for. Competitive endurance tickling looks to be fairly innocent, at first sight. Just a few guys tickling another guy that’s strapped down. Guilty of being homo-erotic, but that’s never hurt anyone. Upon a further look, Farrier is insulted by Jane O’Brien media, the group responsible for these videos. Rather than back away and look into another subject, this only rowels up Farrier’s need to search for the truth and what could really be going on with these people.
Tickled could honestly go any number of ways. Farrier and Reeve could make a film detailing the obsession and how far they’re willing to go to find the truth. Or there’s the look into what brings young men into this sport and why they keep going back. There’s even the exploration of what the people responsible are trying to hide and why. Tickled exposes only the bare minimum on each subject and has no interest to go any further. Aside from a half-assed explanation of the possible motivation behind it all, there’s almost no personal insight to any party involved. For the title of the documentary, it takes it fairly literally without expanding on what it has initially documented.
There’s a scene in question that makes me nervous to say the movie cares about the people it’s documenting. Finding another person involved with “tickling” videos, Farrier and Reeve meet up with this man and are present for a tickle shoot. Filmed in slow motion and with emphasized sound effects, a very muscular man is tickled with various objects. Obviously shot with comedic effect in mind, there is nothing wrong with adding some humility to an admittedly silly subject. Unfortunately, it feels like these people, while present and aware of the filming, feel exploited and used to be made fun of. Tickling, while silly from the mainstream, is a fetish. Fetishes are outside of the norm, but that does not mean they should be made fun of. These are people with desires outside of the ordinary and just because it doesn’t align with most people it shouldn’t mean that they should be open to humiliation.
However upsetting the depiction of this fetish is, the directors do a fine job of uncovering numerous details into this underground movement. Tickled is a film that takes its time in delivering the minute details of the organization behind it all. The patience is welcome, but for a film that only runs 92 minutes, it feels like it’s extending itself to feature length rather than feel natural with its pacing. Aside from all of this, it is a film that does a good job looking into a subject we haven’t seen before. There just needs to be more of an effort put into the filmmaking itself.