Just perfect...

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Zachary Levy is to be commended for producing and directing this very poignant reach for fame in the gentle soul of one man, Stanley Pleskun who uses the moniker 'Stainless Steel'. A man with a dream of notoriety, our character is a man strong enough to bend a penny with just his fingers. When Stainless Steel reaches middle age, career disappointments and difficult personal relationships that begin to test his strengths - aging parents, his alcoholic brother, his beautiful but timid announcer-girlfriend, and his show-biz agents and strength rivals. All the while we honor a man who simply dreams and tries to overcome the role life has dealt him. This is a film that lingers in the heart and mind long after the closing credits.

I love this type of documentary. Unlike supposed, 'reality TV', this documentary contains poignant raw moments. Similar to Grey Gardens, this film displays straightforward eccentric characters being themselves and by being themselves the base longings shared through humanity can be felt in a way that pulls at the heart. Strongman, 'Stanley Pleskun', wants to be impressive, wants to be loved, and wants to be strong. Whether it is Stanley Pleskun or Stephen Hawking these are the things that drive all humans and documentaries like this remind us that no matter how complicated we might be, or how complicated we might believe ourselves to be, we can all see ourselves in Stanley Pleskun and the people that surround him, and this is both beautiful and sad at the same time, which is no coincidence as life is comedy and tragedy, beauty and sadness at the same time, and often contain moments which are absurd in a hilarious way. If nothing else it is worth watching for the absurd hilariousness of the conversations between Barbie and Stanley.

This is the story of a man who is the center of his universe, as well as his girlfriend and families. He is raw, and real, and honest emotionally without a socially conscious filter. The director allows us to see this world for what it truly is, without setups, staging or borders. It is filmed is such a manner that it is almost believable that nobody in the film knows they are being filmed. Nobody plays to the camera, there is clearly no hair or makeup artist, it is human nature in it's truest form, and for that I found it moving and beautiful.In this day and age of all that is false and beautiful, it is so refreshing to see something real and occasionally ugly. Stanley is an egomaniac, but he is also soft spoken, and has strangely endearing quality. His girlfriend is a truly giving soul, who's even keel demeanor in dealing with her emotional wreck of a man is often astounding. She has given her life in support of his, and it's heartfelt and simultaneously saddening at once as it's presented in this intimate setting.

...of the Everyman and his struggle for validation, "Strongman" will likely remain one of those films that gets ignored by the mass of IMDbers. Its arc is simple, its lessons understated. Its subject is very nearly unremarkable: a man who wants to be more than who he is, and steadfastly refuses to recognize his own self-imposed limitations. There's something intrinsically ennobling about that, and yet somehow utterly mundane and almost depressing. I was reminded of several thematically similar documentaries, "The Dungeon Masters" and "Confessions of a Superhero," which also explore the hearts and minds of common men and women who aspire to something beyond the norms of their humdrum lives. Very watchable for all students of humanity.