Performance

[mayer]

i read in this week's Guide that the brilliant if confusing Performance is getting a cinema re-release on the 7th/14th May.



from the bfi:

The notorious and celebrated directorial debut of Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell is re-released by the British Film Institute, allowing a new generation of film-goers to experience the full force of this British cult classic on the big screen.

The greatest British film ever made

any other 'whores seen this? Mick Jagger as a retired popstar, James Fox a gangster on the run, both Performers of the highest quality. mix with vast quantities of drugs & silliness, and both real-life gangsters and groupies in supporting roles.

Fox freaked out a bit after filming this, turning to Christianity in a big way and quitting acting for a decade odd. Roeg went on to make The Man Who Fell To Earth, with David Bowie, of course.

i've seen it three or four times on VHS, but will definitely pop down to the Cornerhouse to catch it on the big screen.

[gazzyk1ns]

Yeah I watched this on BBC 2 in the mid nineties, because the Radio Times told me it was sexually explicit. I was in a 16 year-old's heaven around that time, BBC 2 were showing a lot of films which were basically softcore porn. They were introduced by the Scottish guy who speaks slowly and purposefully, is that Mark Kermode? I don't think it is, maybe another "Mark"? The feature was called "Moviedrome", and they showed some good stuff (sometimes).

They had "Exotica", "The Sex Life Of The Belgians", "Performance", and... I think they concluded it with "Black Candles", which was pushing it for the BBC. They had a Cronenberg season as well because it was around the time that Crash was in the media spotlight - I remember watching the famous "Videodrome" and being utterly bored, but afterwards they showed another film of his - "Shivers" - and I really liked it. It features a topless scene with a woman who has the biggest nipples I've ever seen, and it's surprising because she's not one of those black haired types with massive nips and small areolas, it's genuinely unexpected.

Errm anyway, that's all a bit off topic, even ignoring the last sentence. I'd love to say I really enjoyed the film but although I've only seen it about twice aaaages ago, I can remember finding it a bit boring, to be honest. Maybe it deserves another go.

[9]

Yeah i saw that article in the guide too. Performance is a truly great film with lots of interesting stories behind it. I like the quote about it being 'a force for chaos.' I think its our obligation as people who have seen it to hassle everyone who hasn't to go and watch this because its incredible. This means you!.

[glitch]

I had to sit through Performance during a media studies lecture a few years ago, as well as discuss it. I can't have been impressed, the only thing I can remember about it is Jagger's terrible acting and that I ended up talking to the lecturer about Throbbing Gristle.

[Harfyyn Teuport]

I was in a 16 year-old's heaven around that time, BBC 2 were showing a lot of films which were basically softcore porn. They were introduced by the Scottish guy who speaks slowly and purposefully, is that Mark Kermode? I don't think it is, maybe another "Mark"? The feature was called "Moviedrome", and they showed some good stuff (sometimes).

Well, there's Mark Cousins who certainly spoke slowly and deliberately with wild gesticulations and loved films way too much. But he was northern irish and spoke in a very protracted and elongated norn irish accent.

Never heard of Performance before now, though.

[gazzyk1ns]

Yup that's him. I can do an impression of him but I'm buggered if I know where his accent came from... I only mentioned Mark Kermode because I have heard people talk about him and refer to him  as a film critic.

[elderford]

Jagger's best role, if only because he is playing a druggie rockstar (similar to Bowie in Roeg's Man Who Fell to Earth, as at the time he was coked up and living on ice cream). So it's a kind of method acting.

The excitement lies in Jagger's main squeeze in the film is Anita Pallenberg, who in real life after being with the one who wasn't very good at taking drugs (to quote Charlie Watts), and come to think of it was even worse at swimming, Mr Brian Jones, took her sloppy seconds to Keith Richards.

Rumour has it that the sex on screen between Jagger and Pallenberg was real and Keith Riffhard got a mard on about it.

Various books on the Stones recount that there is supposedly a hardcore cut of the sex wee scenes, but this is probably guff.

[Bilko]

Great film, but why isn't it available on DVD?

[hotvans]

Jagger's best role, .

you jest - he's an old rock star not an actor
this film is seven different types of shite - have watched it twice so gave it a chance but it is still shite

[9]

For any Roeg Buffs, his 1985 film Insignificance is on tonight (Tuesday) at 11.50 on BBC 2.

[Doctor Stamen]

I've never seen this so i'll definitely be going.  Maybe Cocksucker Blues will get a release too, that's one fillum I wouldn't mind seeing!

Speaking of Jagger, his performance in Freejack is the worst acting i've ever seen.  Absolutely fucking abysmal.