Strumpet

TIFF [2001]

Christopher Eccleston & Jenna G

(United Kingdom, 2001, 72 minutes)
Directed by Danny Boyle
Written by Jim Cartwright
Cast: Christopher Eccleston, Jenna G, Stephen Walters

Movie Review

The Contemporary World Cinema programme brought back the double-bill with two new short films (although technically feature length, according to MPAA guidelines) from "Shallow Grave" and "Trainspotting" director Danny Boyle, produced for British television: "Strumpet" and "Vacuuming Completely Nude In Paradise".

Talk Back

In the first story, "Strumpet", we meet punk beatnik Stray Man ("Shallow Grave"'s Christopher Eccleston) disrupting another neighborhood karaoke night with one his charged rants that leave the drunks and dart players baffled. One night, ambling about downtown with his ersatz family of pack of stray dogs, Stray Man rescues a young hitchkiker (Jenna G) from the meathooks of a trucker. The girl moves in with him and the mutts and demonstrates proficiency with the guitar. Soon, she's providing musical accompaniment that supercharges Stray Man's fiery verse -- together, they form "Strumpet". Neighbour and aspiring manager Knockoff offers his services and gets them a deal with a major music label.

Essentially another "Dogme" film, the shot-on-digital "Strumpet" doesn't wear its tech specs as a badge of pride, or revolt, although rebellion is very much the theme here. Rather, I suspect that Danny Boyle grew tired of the Hollywood boondoggle inherited with "The Beach" and the long-delayed "Alien Love Triangle" and chose the format for its affordability and immediacy. "Strumpet" seems set in an indeterminate time -- on the one hand, the locale of the film suggests the kitchen-sink dramas of 80s-era Stephen Frears and Mike Leigh. But the fashions and music reflect the electronica/rave scene of present day. Perhaps to every British Angry Young Man it's always Thatcher's England out there, but there's a welcome romantic sweetness and playful humour in Jim ("Little Voice") Cartwright's teleplay that elevates "Strumpet" from being just another gritty political tract.

[Vacuuming Completely Nude In Paradise review]

- Robert L

Talk Back