Audience Member
You'd think given his usual approach to filmmaking, Meadows would be naturally suited to the mockumentary format, but it just doesn't work, especially with such a cartoonish character as Le Donk clashing with the low-key naturalism of all the non-professionals (and Olivia Colman, who is really good but not remotely believable as a woman who would go anywhere near a man like Donk). It's funny at times, but the good stuff is kind of overshadowed by the absurd plot and Considine's mugging, to which nobody seems to know how to react.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
01/30/23
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Audience Member
Slight. Very slight.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/27/23
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Audience Member
Director Shane Meadows is no stranger to low-budget filmmaking. In fact, most of his films to date have been made with relativity tight constraints. This time around, he goes that one step further and makes an all-out, fly on the wall mockumentary, which also happens to be his third collaboration with actor Paddy Considine.
Documentary maker Shane Meadows (playing himself) follow the life of music manager Le Donk (Paddy Considine), who reckons he's unearthed a new talent in rapper Scor-Zay-Zee (Dean Palinczuk). As a slot with band The Arctic Monkeys opens up, the would-be manager and his protege hit the road to try and make a name for themselves.
If the brilliant "A Room For Romeo Brass" and "Dead Man's Shoes" were anything to go by, you'd be forgiven for getting very excited about the prospect of Meadows and Considine working together again. I know I certainly was. Unfortunately, this film isn't quite up to their previous high standards. In fairness, they've adopted a different approach but for a film with a running time of just over an hour you'd expect it to move briskly and get down to telling it's story. In the early stages it does this, with some hilarious observational humour and "kitchen sink" drama that's reminiscent of Ricky Gervais' "The Office" but the delivery soon becomes a bit stale. The idea is good, the performances are good but for a film to enter into this mould it needs to provide more laughs than it does. I'm sure it probably will appeal to many people but for me, as a big fan of Meadows, I had set my sites too high. It loses it momentum and relies too heavily on the presence of Considine and his perfect balance of ambition and desperation. He's most definitely the highlight here. However, there's only so much one man can carry. The humour and awkward situations are well captured but it essentially there isn't much of a story and becomes not much more than a showcase for real-life rap artist and freestyler Scor-Zay-Zee who's not that appealing to begin with.
An interesting, if unsuccessful, project from Meadows. He's not made many bad movies and I wouldn't say this is bad either. It's just not as eventful as it could have been.
Mark Walker
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/19/23
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Audience Member
I don't know why I enjoyed it, I just did...
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/21/23
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Audience Member
Another awesome performance from Paddy Considine, who's improvised comedy and style in the film are essentially the reason to watch it. Genuinely witty and warm towards it's finish, the premise and real-life documentry style keeping things fresh and engaging throughout.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/23/23
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Audience Member
After making This Is England (2006), Shane Meadows had originally considered doing a Dogme 95 film, but found the manifesto's rules too restrictive, so he and producer Mark Herbert created the "Five Day Feature", and that's what this was. Made in 5 days on a budget of £78,000, This is a scrappy but likeable mockumentary about the struggles of making it big in the music industry. Failed musician turned roadie Le Donk (Paddy Considine) is made the subject of a fly-on-the-wall documentary directed by Meadows, about Le Donk's life. He lives with his heavily pregnant ex-girlfriend Olivia (Olivia Colman), who has infuriated Le Donk by saying her new boyfriend is to be her birth partner. Not letting it get to him, Le Donk has been mentoring aspiring rapper Scor-zay-zee (Dean Palinczuk), and they've both gone up to Manchester to help out at an Arctic Monkeys gig at Old Trafford Cricket Ground. However, Le Donk is able to persuade the organisers to let him and Scor-zay-zee be the opening act. It could be a shot at the big time. It's got some good dialogue, (all improvised), and it doesn't waste time either. Despite it being very rough round the edges, which could be off-putting to some, it has heart. Even if Le Donk is the only fictional character here, he feels real enough.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/05/23
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