Rocinante

The first time I saw this film, at Leeds Film Festival, not so long after its release I was knocked out at its awfulness. Having managed to stay pretty much awake until the credits I was able to reflect on its sheer badness. Every cliche of the road movie intertwined with every cliche of the picaresque to create a very colourful olio of garbage. Any suspicions I had during the film that it was so bad it must be brilliant dispersed on the appearance of Jimmy Jewel who, though an excellent comic performer, is usually introduced into dramas to add a pathos which just serves to revoke any such intention. I look forward to seeing it again on t.v. in the wee small hours. My partner and I think it's a cracker. NEWPDQ.

... also quite beautiful. Rarely as the English countryside been filmed so well.

The politically astute directors play with the nature of representation through the ages.

England is depicted as 'a garden of secrets, full of tradition and myth, violence and cover-up'.

John Hurt breaks into a derelict cinema and has a conversation about narrative and images with an ex-projectionist which leads him to take to the road.

He calls his truck Rocinante, which was the name of Quixote's horse - the film mirrors Cervantes' storytelling style.

The journey to Dartmoor involves a encounter with Jess - a political activist inspired by the 1984 miners strike and conspiring to develop new ways of technological sabotage. Hacker-wise, it was ahead of it's time.

Ian Dury keeps walking in and out of the frame with poetic comments.

Good stuff.

Perhaps this is my fravorite movie. Most won't have the opportunity to see it. Of those, most will not last to the end credits. But if you do (and you'll know after the first five minutes), this film will stay with you for a long time. Set in the early eighties underground Britain, simple storyline, great camera-work / directing / acting. Loved it.