When people talk about British film success in the 1980s they instantly think of CHARIOTS OF FIRE , GHANDI , THE KILLING FIELDS and THE MISSION . What a lot of people forget is that during this period a television station , Channel 4 , were the main sponsors of British films and almost every week ( Or so it seemed ) we'd see an unwatchable art house piece of crap by Derek Jarman or Peter Greenaway hit the limited film circuit . Add SHADEY to the list of shame
!!!! MILD SPOILERS !!!!
I haven't seen SHADEY for several years and I can guarantee you that I won't be seeing it again . It's a black comedy which is the most vague and audience unfriendly genre title there is . Oliver Shadey ( Played by Anthony Sher who spends the entire movie with a gormless grin over his face ) is a man who wants to become a woman and has somewhat supernatural powers . This premise is bizarre but is not beyond saving . What ruins the story is the way the production team try to shock the audience. Shadey gets emasculated by a pair of scissors , Patrick Macnee and Leslie Ash's characters embark on an incestuous relationship and we have to endure dialogue like " When Jesus told his followers to get behind me did he show himself to be a latent homosexual ? " . Shadey also escapes in a lift as the South African secret police pursue him in a climax that is even worse than it sounds
I've no idea what the market was for this type of movie . It's pretentious , irritating and throughly unentertaining . It smacks of a bunch of untalented smug art house types getting their film funded by some equally pretentious art house types who sycophantically admired the script simply because it's so anti mainstream . This type of attitude destroyed the 1980s British industry with movies that couldn't be distributed in Britain never mind internationally ( It's no surprise that Americans have given this an even lower average vote that the Brits ) and I never want to see the British film industry suffer such a low point again
!!!! MILD SPOILERS !!!!
I haven't seen SHADEY for several years and I can guarantee you that I won't be seeing it again . It's a black comedy which is the most vague and audience unfriendly genre title there is . Oliver Shadey ( Played by Anthony Sher who spends the entire movie with a gormless grin over his face ) is a man who wants to become a woman and has somewhat supernatural powers . This premise is bizarre but is not beyond saving . What ruins the story is the way the production team try to shock the audience. Shadey gets emasculated by a pair of scissors , Patrick Macnee and Leslie Ash's characters embark on an incestuous relationship and we have to endure dialogue like " When Jesus told his followers to get behind me did he show himself to be a latent homosexual ? " . Shadey also escapes in a lift as the South African secret police pursue him in a climax that is even worse than it sounds
I've no idea what the market was for this type of movie . It's pretentious , irritating and throughly unentertaining . It smacks of a bunch of untalented smug art house types getting their film funded by some equally pretentious art house types who sycophantically admired the script simply because it's so anti mainstream . This type of attitude destroyed the 1980s British industry with movies that couldn't be distributed in Britain never mind internationally ( It's no surprise that Americans have given this an even lower average vote that the Brits ) and I never want to see the British film industry suffer such a low point again