What’s in a name? Director Matthew Bauer examines what it’s like having one of the most recognisable names in the world in The Other Fellow, a James Bond documentary that is less about Ian Fleming’s iconic MI6 agent and more about the various real-world people who happen to be named James Bond.
From the trailer, it looks like The Other Fellow is geared more towards exploring how having the same name as one of the most famous fictional characters ever made has impacted the lives of these various men.
Bauer, an Australian filmmaker who was mostly known for shorts before this, manages to track down various men named James Bond who all come from very different backgrounds. There’s the Swedish 007 superfan “with a Nazi past,” the gay New York theatre director and an African American man accused of murder. Holding steady under the shadow of a film icon and perhaps the most alpha male ever dreamed up by an author, these men all seem to share the fact that their lives have been directly shaped by simply sharing the name James Bond.
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According to glowing online reviews, The Other Fellow navigates its unusual premise by tracking down some genuinely fascinating backstories and exploring male identity and issues of privacy through the lens of these men who aptly describe having the same name as James Bond as a “gift and a curse.”
If you’re feeling like a different kind of Bond session, you can now stream The Other Fellow for free via SBS On Demand.
