Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
Journalist David Farrier stumbles upon a mysterious tickling competition online. As he delves deeper he comes up against fierce resistance, but that doesn’t stop him getting to the bottom of a story stranger than fiction.
Tickled is a genuinely singular documentary — what begins as a quirky human-interest piece about competitive tickling spirals into a deeply unsettling investigation involving fraud, coercion, cyberbullying, and hidden power. The plot structure is exceptional for a documentary, unfolding with the tension of a thriller. Novelty is very high: there is simply no other film quite like it in conception or execution. Cinematography is competent but workmanlike — functional rather than artful. The ending feels slightly abrupt and unresolved, which is somewhat true to the story's real-world messiness but leaves viewers wanting more closure. Acting is not really applicable in the traditional sense, but Farrier and co-director Reeve are engaging on-screen presences.