The Man from Mo'Wax

The man with Mo wax gives viewers an extremely informative and exciting view into 1990's musician James Lavelle's journey within the music industry. Director Mathew Jones gives a wonderful insight into the workings of Britains underground music scenes with this brilliant, fast paced documentary.

This production truly stands out from other music documentaries with its incredibly insightful style. Not only do we get a full view into the rise and fall of the musicians career, we are also introduced to other music icons who influenced his journey greatly. The viewer also has the opportunity to learn a lot about the workings of the music industry in 1990 Britain from this production.

'The Man from Mo'Wax' showcases original clips captured by Lavelle and his teams, from the beginning of their exciting journey, through to the hardships that they faced along the way. The use of constant self tape cut aways creates an extremely authentic and honest representation of how hard Lavelle worked to create a name for himself within the industry.

I truly loved every part of this documentary. From observing the hard work that went into the creation of a "boutique label", through to gaining an understanding of just how much Lavelle kept believing in himself in order to gain positive recognition. The appearance of iconic musicians, cult fashion brands and art throughout the entire production made for extremely nostalgic viewing.

This is a film you have to see, it's honest, exhilarating and packed full of brilliant tracks. Even without being a die-hard Mo'Wax/UNKLE fan I could watch this film countless times, this is a profound story of dizzying success, crushing failure and everything in-between. Amazing home video from James Lavelle and DJ Shadow as well as some really insightful (and at times very funny) interviews with key people from from the worlds of music and art, Josh Homme, Futura, Ian Brown for example, make this film a must see.

A fascinating watch even if you are not necessarily into this music scene. You are taken on fast paced and emotionally journey through James Lavelle's career. This is not your typical music documentary. It shows some quite raw and difficult to watch moments when Lavelle is at his lowest. The humour sprinkled throughout, especially from interviews with Josh Homme really make this film sparkle.

The Man from Mo' Wax is a fascinating depiction of the explosive rise and fall of maverick founder of Mo' Wax Records, James Lavelle. The documentary takes you on a fast paced emotional roller-coaster, through unseen and rare personal footage, of the highs and certainly the lows of the man behind Mo' Wax and UNKLE at odds against a rapidly changing and hostile world. With a surprisingly honest, and at points relatable, human story at its heart; this film is brazen and slick with an absolutely killer soundtrack.

The execution of the documentary is commendable. In the main, the film is skilfully constructed from a treasure trove of unearthed, self-documented footage derived from Lavelle himself and many of his friends and collaborators. The raw footage spanning decades is sophisticatedly intertwined with contemporary and retrospective interviews; additional exposition is smartly incorporated or in keeping with Lavelle's recurrent science-fiction theme. A particularly enjoyable aesthetic choice was the decision to have the cuts between stills dictated to the exceptional soundtrack, it gave the film personality and at times worked well to mirror the chaotic pace of Lavelle, Mo' Wax and indeed the music industry.

Following Lavelle's prosperous and naive beginnings, you really get sense of the scale of what Lavelle was achieving and at such young age. However, director Mathew Jones spends surprisingly little time on Lavelle's time at the top and focuses predominantly on the encroaching cracks appearing in several of Lavelle's relationships and his worsening position within a difficult and changing industry. Lavelle has the rug pulled from under him and refuses to move on from it, burning through years, relationships and gargantuan amounts of money trying to recreate it; but does he ultimately learn from it? The comment that is never really answered to, made by producer Antony Genn, that unmovably sticks in the mind is, "you don't have to be Sigmund Freud to work out that it might be you (Lavelle) that is the problem". It doesn't really come across that Lavelle has learnt or changed from his experience but has just simply moved on to his next opportunity and endeavour, tempting history to repeat itself.

The Man from Mo' Wax is an extremely engaging and polished documentary around a truly fascinating and driven visionary, working decades ahead of his time. It features an exemplary soundtrack and would be a sure-fire hit for any Mo' Wax or UNKLE purist. Regardless, the documentary does well to work with limited knowledge of the subject and remains engrossing throughout. When all is said and done and you strip it down to its bare bones, the film is ultimately a really relatable human story of ingenuity and perseverance.

Man from Mo'Wax is a brilliantly personal and well-made documentary that offers a unique insight into the life, work and mind of James Lavelle. One of the things i enjoyed the most is the fact that the viewer is able to feel so close to him and the story due to the amount of personal documentation from the very earliest stages of his interest in music as a 14 year old DJ all the way through his career which makes it feel intimate, not just an objective recounting of events, so the viewer can empathise with the stories told in the film. It's clear to see the amount of hard work and care it took to create this documentary over a decade and from over 700 hours of footage and I can't imagine it balanced any better than it has been. The passion for and faith in the story is evident all the way through.

The editing and directing really help keep a good pace for the film and make it stylish and cool - fitting for the music scene it depicts and the people involved in the story - and is consistently so. The stylish visuals and soundtrack make this film a pleasure to watch and keep it exciting, as well as followable. I also think the interviews were done really effectively, especially the way it returned to some of the same interviews throughout, such as a very young James talking about running Mo'Wax and the label's success.

It's particularly interesting to follow his struggle with being perceived as an artist in his own right as you can see his love of the music scene from his starting out as a DJ and that it was extremely important to him to be closely involved with the creative process, even when perceived as just the record label owner. This is one of the key issues that the film explores in some detail but without coming across as invasive.

The Southbank Meltdown seemed like a really important point and a good way to bring the documentary to a close as it almost feels like a kind of second chance for him career-wise, that it's something he's able to pour his heart into and work tirelessly to execute after a long time spent feeling somewhat hopeless in his professional and personal life. It also shows how he and his work has impacted so many people, shots of performances and crowds enjoying Unkle memorabilia and wearing their branded clothing creates a hopeful atmosphere for the ending of the film and I think it's really important for it to end on a positive, hopeful note after the rollercoaster the audience has experienced alongside James and the people he's worked with. We see this as an opportunity for him to become the credited creative director he's always strived to be and I think this is an effective facet to the film.