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The Singing Detective Director: Keith Gordon Rated: MA 15+ Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas, Now screening 
I loved Dennis Potter's 1986 BBC TV serial of the same name, on which this film is based, so I was prepared for both the best and the worst. That series turned me on to the wonderful 1930s and '40s songs of The Mills Bros, Andrews Sisters, Dick Haymes, etc. I liken my experience of seeing this film version to that of seeing Stephen Frears' excellent 'High Fidelity' which translated Nick Hornby's book to a US setting, sensitively shifting the musical references. The film of 'The Singing Detective' does the same moves; from Britain to the US, and replaces the original music with songs from the 1950s. No, it's not as good as the TV series but, overseen as it is by Potter's family, the project is a worthy translation of his intriguing story, and Tom Richmond's lighting and cinematography is always artful. Robert Downey Jr. seems to have soaked-up the original TV character (played by Michael Gambon) and does a great job of Dan Dark, an unsuccessful crime-fiction writer who has become angry and mistrustful. He has long been afflicted by the skin disease psoriasis (this important point may not be clearly spelled-out in the film) but it results in his hospitalisation when his entire body has been affected. Characters from his novel, 'The Singing Detective', his childhood memories and his current life, all jostle for his fevered mind's attention. He is prone to visual and auditory hallucinations involving the silken songs of early rock'n'roll music, including tunes from Eddie Cochrane, Gene Vincent, The Coasters and their ilk. (If you really can't stand Patti Page singing How Much Is That Doggie In The Window?, you may not get to see the end of this waggly tale.) Jeremy Northam plays Mark Binney handsomely, while Mel Gibson is unflatteringly cast way out of character as balding psychologist Dr Gibbon. He does it admirably and his recent work also comes to mind with the opening images of the raw and scabrous face of Dan Dark, so like the flayed body of Christ in his previous production, 'Passion'. (If you missed that, imagine a red, pink, white and yellow Jackson Pollock.) 'The Singing Detective' is an often steamy story that focuses on one man's anger and misogyny, though throughout he is surrounded by a host of feminine characters (including those portrayed by Robin Wright Penn and Katie Holmes). They challenge his crime-fiction stereotyping of women, by being supportive, professional and compassionate to him. On the one hand it's a stimulating exploration of the formation and condition of one thwarted male psyche. It is also a wonderfully playful, joyously cinematic intertwining of musical and surreal elements, musing and amusing about the power of mind over matter.  |
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