Le Donk and Scor-zay-zee (2009)
Le Donk and Scor-zay-zee (BRIT) Directed by Shane Meadows Written by Shane Meadows Starring Paddy Considine; Dean Palinczuk; Shane Meadows; Richard Graham; Olivia Colman
Shane Meadows is one of the UKs best young directors. At thirty eight, this ultra low budget mockumentary is his seventh feature. Though he has made a number of bigger films, which gained theatrical releases in the U.S. , he and producer Mark Herbert (who, along with other producers, appears as himself) have come up with a concept for their Warp Films, which involves shooting features in only five days. Le Donk and Scor-zay-zee represents their first release using those guidelines.
Meadows and his frequent collaborator and longtime friend, actor Paddy Considine, came up with the Le Donk character when the two were teenagers and have used him in several shorts before this. The nickname is never explained (short for ‘The Donkey’ might be an apt guess), but Le Donk (played by Considine) is a half-witted roadie/wannabe music producer/manager whose life is in shambles. Separated from his very pregnant girlfriend, Olivia (Olivia Colman), his dreams rest with a young overweight rapper, Scor-Zay-zee (played by real life Nottingham rapper, Dean Palinczuk), who rents a room in his house.
The conceit is that Meadows (playing himself) is making a documentary about Le Donk (at one point he references UK doc Southpaw ) and a small crew, with Meadows shooting, follows him from his home to his three day roadie gig for The Artic Monkeys (who appear as well). In the vein of Spinal Tap, Le Donk is exposed as an egotistical, self-involved, misogynistic jackass who argues with Meadows, constantly asks him for relationship advice, and whose true motivation seems to be getting famous himself, despite his claims to want to promote the career of his protege.
The film rests on the awkwardness induced by Le Donk’s stupidity and general lack of awareness as to the folly of his own life. Meadows, Colman, and Palinczuk do well as straight men, and the humor is nicely controlled by the director, who keeps things from degenerating into the absurd. It is evident though that more takes might have refined the humor and allowed for additional improvisation (Considine is clearly enjoying himself), which might have exponentially increased the laugh quotient. One can feel certain scenes left less than fully explored, and in several that include Olivia’s new boyfriend (played by Richard Graham, who edits), the actor (as opposed to the character he’s playing) seems on the verge of laughter in instances where it doesn’t fit.
The idea is a good one, though, and just right for the squeezed schedule, but perhaps owing to the shooting time it is still paper thin, and at 71 minutes barely makes it as an actual feature. The same was true of Meadows’ previous feature, Somers Town (2008), which (at the same 71 minutes) went into shooting as a short and got extended by the director, a process which may have led him into this kind of further experimentation. The difference was that while Somers Towndidn’t have much of a plot, it benefited from solid characters and a heartfelt, nostalgic tone.
Le Donk and Scor-zay-zeeis amusing and the talented Considine is, of course, solid, but ultimately the film suffers from a lack of depth/complexity. Meadows is known for hard hitting dramas set in the Midlands and no one can blame him for having fun and trying something new, but more time and money might have led to something a bit more palatable to actual paying, theater going audiences.