technojazzbrother Reviews

Telstar: The Joe Meek Story (2008)

Stellar Performance from Con O'Neil

[8/10 · 1 December 2009]

British films made by people like Richard Curtis (The Boat that Rocked et al) tend to look at the swinging 60's of London with heavily rose tinted spectacles. All pimms, waistcoats, flower power and crazy shenanigans. All very well but not much to do with reality - I thought Austin Powers would have killed that off in the 90's....which is why Nick Moran's directorial debut is such a breath of fresh air.

For those that don't know the Joe Meek at the centre of this film - control freak, gay in the wrong decade, tone deaf drug addicted musical pioneer - get ready for a roller-coaster of a ride. Without wishing to spoil the arc of the story, this is a classic tale of a man with a vision breaking new ground...with disastrous consequences.

Con O'Neil dominates this film with a superb manic performance which captures the claustrophobic and chaotic feel of the centre of Joe's universe, his recording studio above a handbag shop in central London in the early 60's. Ably supported by a host of good actors - in particular Kevin Spacey, Pam Ferris, and (even) James Cordon are all spot on. What looks like a cod-60's Curtis-esquire disaster for the first 20 minutes heads somewhere altogether darker once the action cranks up as Joe starts to get some no.1 hits in the charts.

A must watch cautionary tale about fame, love, jealously, paranoia and music, this is a fine carachter piece with some excellent nuanced comedy amidst the darker elements, it's a really well executed debut from Mr Moran...enjoy.

Southern Gothic (2007)

Southern Guff

[3/10 · 10 November 2009]

Being a massive vampire, horror, and all round b movie lover the first 5 minutes of this movie had lots of promise, and I was really rooting for this to be a cracking undiscovered dark little tale of southern Gothic mayhem. However, 20 mins in it soon became apparrant that the film lacked anything more than the flimsiest of plots, little or nothing in the way of meaningful character development, and some serious challenges on the sound and lighting front.

However, the film is not without it's charms - William Forsythe does a pretty sinister preacher man in the first third (although is wasted after that), the moody lead guy has some presence (although poorly directed and with a rubbish script), and there are some of great uses of imagery and visual flair that do actually work, as well as some not bad fx in a few places.

Mark Young seemed to have the makings of a dark little tale of vampirism, religious zealousness, and redemptin here, but either ran out of money, ideas and focus by the end, which is rushed and contrived to say the least and generally de-railed by poor execution all round.

Someone give this man a good script, a decent budget, and a sound engineer. A missed opportunity. Revisit Katheryn Bigelow's Near Dark instead for the real deal.