The maker of these tiles is quite clearly severely mentally ill and has been for at least three decades.
Did anyone in that entire time ever step forward and try to help him? If so, I'm sure he refused it.
Conclusion: schizophrenics never see themselves as schizophrenics.
I thought the same. I can see why people were mesmerised by the mystery of it all and enjoyed their detective work but, really, once his weird "manifesto" appeared on one of the tiles, it should have been clear that they're dealing with a complete nutcase (sorry if this is not the correct medical term).
What were they hoping to achieve when eventually coming face-to-face with him? Give him a forum to spread his antisemitic, "kill all journalists" message? Let him humiliate himself by pretending that his "dead molecules to Jupiter" theory is anything but non-sensical drivel?
It would probably have been better to wait for the good man to die before releasing the film. I dread to think how many of those pseudo Sherlock Holmeses will be knocking on his door after seeing the film.
I thought the movie was extremely sad myself. Very early on I could tell that these tiles were the work of severely mentally disturbed person. The poor guy is probably in need of serious medical attention. From the way his neighbors described him he's apparently a shut in as well. I can't imagine how his house looks. I'm only guessing of course, but I imagine it's pretty filthy inside.
When you think about it, the 3 guys following this "mystery" were pretty sad as well. Don't they realize that they have an unhealthy obsession with this as well? Can't they see that this is just the nonsensical ramblings of a disturbed person? What exactly is so interesting about this? There is no deeper message buried beneath the surface. It's just gibberish.
A very sad documentary. I'm not exactly sure why some people think it's a fake. I think that's probably just the hipster phenomenon that has to be unimpressed with any and everything.
"Don't they realize that they have an unhealthy obsession with this as well?"
I think they do realize this. In fact, one of the central themes of the film, in my view, has to do with the extent to which Justin's "obsession" with the Toynbee tile mystery has become 'unhealthy', and has started to bear some resemblance to what we can only assume must be the tiler's own 'unhealthy obsession' with the Toynbee idea.
After solving the small mysteries of how the tiles were made, who the tiler was, etc. the filmmakers are confronted with an image of a man held captive by his unhealthy obsession, from which he may never escape. Unable to free this man, Justin concludes the film by doing the next best thing--making sure the same tragedy does not befall him--by renouncing his own unhealthy obsession for his own good, before it consumes him completely! He accepts that he has discovered as much as he ever would, and that it wasn't worth it to keep stalking the tiler as he had been doing.
I don't think you're giving the film enough credit for how self-conscious it is about why the mystery captured Justin's interest and imagination so intensely. Don't you wonder why the film spends quite a bit of time discussing Justin's own background, his childhood, adolescence, etc.? Questions like "What exactly is so interesting about this" ARE addressed by the film, even if not fully answered. The mystery becomes important for Justin, and the parallels between the tiler and himself are striking. If he gave into this obsession, and let this mystery consume him, Justin could have ended up just as crazy as the tiler himself!
But he very wisely decided he had to let it go, and move on with his life.
As fan of the film I share your point of view of the similarity of the alleged "tiler"(because nothing conclusive is ever reach)with Justin, at one point I became convinced that Justin could end up as a some sort of "tiler" himself.
"When you think about it, the 3 guys following this "mystery" were pretty sad as well. Don't they realize that they have an unhealthy obsession with this as well?"
I think it was the hunt they were interested in, more than the actual resolution. And they did give it up eventually. When people see cryptic things we want to know what they mean, nonsensical or not.
Naturally I thought about the case for this guys mental illness but at the same time It seems like a weak shot to just claim mental illness at the man.
How do you know he is mentally ill? Becasue he believes in some farfetched idea? What if youre/I/we're mentally ill and dont know it? Do you think youre normal and he is crazy? What does that mean really?
So yeah I see the point you make and it sure may be a strong case but we dont know.
Because he's got a strange preoccupation, introverted, and keeps odd hours, doesn't mean he's mentally ill. He's obviously not a threat to anyone or himself, can keep himself housed and fed, and doesn't have a criminal record as far as we know. The standard test for insanity is not knowing the difference between right and wrong.
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