Le Donk and Scor-zay-zee reviews
Review by on 28 Sep 2009
Produced in the downtime between more serious projects as part of a Warp X scheme showcasing films shot over five days, writer/director Shane Meadows’ faux fly-on-the-wall rock doc LE DONK AND SCOR-ZAY-ZEE is an improvised zero budget lark that recalls the playful homemade charm of his 1996 debut SMALL TIME.
Co-written by Meadows and long-time collaborator Paddy Considine, the film is pitched as a documentary following guileless roadie and wannabe music mogul Donk (Considine). With his ex-girlfriend (Olivia Coleman) shacked up with a new man but about to give birth to his child, Donk’s personal life is a mess. But things seem to be looking up, in his professional life at least, when he secures his latest act, a rotund rapper named Scor-zay-zee, (Dean Palinczuk) a slot opening for the Arctic Monkeys.
Though ably supported by Meadows, Palinczuk and Coleman the film undoubtedly belongs to Considine. Coming across as a hybrid of Ralph Brown’s roadie in WAYNE’S WORLD 2 and a beanie-hatted Alan Partridge, his Donk produces an endless stream of laughs as he lurches between moments of insecure bravado and painful self-examination. Ultimately, it is largely thanks to Considine’s first-rate improv skills and comic quips that the whole thing works at all.
Comparisons with THIS IS SPINAL TAP are inevitable, especially given the freewheeling improvised feel and quotable dialogue, but the film is much lower key and, like much of Meadows’ work, finds pathos and humour in equal measure in its portrayal of down-on-their-luck blaggers struggling to fulfil even the most modest of dreams.
JASON GOODYER
Produced in the downtime between more serious projects as part of a Warp X scheme showcasing films shot over five days, writer/director Shane Meadows’ faux fly-on-the-wall rock doc LE DONK AND SCOR-ZAY-ZEE is an improvised zero budget lark that recalls the playful homemade charm of his 1996 debut SMALL TIME.Co-written by Meadows and long-time collaborator Paddy Considine, the film is pitched as a documentary following guileless roadie and wannabe music mogul Donk (Considine). With his ex-girlfriend (Olivia Coleman) shacked up with a new man but about to give birth to his child, Donk’s personal life is a mess. But things seem to be looking up, in his professional life at least, when he secures his latest act, a rotund rapper named Scor-zay-zee, (Dean Palinczuk) a slot opening for the Arctic Monkeys.
Though ably supported by Meadows, Palinczuk and Coleman the film undoubtedly belongs to Considine. Coming across as a hybrid of Ralph Brown’s roadie in WAYNE’S WORLD 2 and a beanie-hatted Alan Partridge, his Donk produces an endless stream of laughs as he lurches between moments of insecure bravado and painful self-examination. Ultimately, it is largely thanks to Considine’s first-rate improv skills and comic quips that the whole thing works at all.
Comparisons with THIS IS SPINAL TAP are inevitable, especially given the freewheeling improvised feel and quotable dialogue, but the film is much lower key and, like much of Meadows’ work, finds pathos and humour in equal measure in its portrayal of down-on-their-luck blaggers struggling to fulfil even the most modest of dreams.
JASON GOODYER
Film details
Le Donk and Scor-zay-zee
MAIN FEATURES
Director: Shane Meadows
Actor: Paddy Considine
Actor: Scor- Zay- Zee
Actor: Olivia Colman
Actor: Paddy Considine
Actor: Scor- Zay- Zee
Actor: Olivia Colman
UK, 2009.
71 mins.
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