Alright, a look at another BRITISH flick. I should be reviewing LOCK STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS soon, and it's good to have some cool foreign flick news. It sure would be cool if I had some news on... say JOAN OF ARC... ahem... Remember I'm not trying to focus just on Hollywood or American made films. News of films around the world is cool! SO keep it coming alright? Cool.
Saw the new brit-film SWING a couple of weeks ago which was being mixed at Twickenham Studios where I was working. It ROCKS, Lisa Stansfield is superb, I have a real thing about popsters moving into acting, but she really works. A genuine working class girl made good, she was also at the Mix which was a real treat, she's as nice in real life as she is on screen.
It's a fun story with some real laugh out loud moments, the Brit and Aussie crew that I saw it with loved it, I don't know if some of the references to some very Brit things, like a united hatred for a soccer team Manchester United, promising your first born in return for a brass section of Orangemen (Protestants), and a whacky lotto winner (the Lottery is a relatively new thing in the UK) may be a bit obscure for US audiences, but it's a very very funny film.
Basically it's the story of Martin (Hugo Speer, Biggus Dickus from The Full Monty) who gets out of jail having convenientally been locked up with Clarence Clemons (yes, Clarence Clemons of Bruce Springsteen's E Street band fame!!) who's taught him the saxophone. He comes out of jail with a desire to create a swing band and win back his ex-girlfriend (Lisa Stansfield) who has since married his arresting officer - it's THAT kind of comedy. Of course he does and the band, despite a lot of downs along the way, win in the end, but we knew that from the get-go, the fun part is the ride getting there. The music is FANTASTIC with some very obscure songs given the Stansfield/Clemons treatment, the producers deserve a medal for combining the two, just the album alone would be worth the effort.
I hope this gets shown in the US. I do know it's coming out in a big way in the UK. At last an unpretentious fun ride of a Brit-flick!
