Strayman, a spontaneous poet, is landlord to a pack of stray dogs. Unable to resist another of life's strays, he hooks up with Strumpet, a shy, homeless girl with an extraordinary gift for music. After Strayman's neighbour overhears them singing, the three set off for London - Strayman's dogs in tow - in search of fame, fortune, and Top Of The Pops.
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Following his experiences on The Beach, Boyle went back to the BBC and back to basics, directing a pair of films from Jim Cartwright of Road and Little Voice fame.
Except back to basics sounds like playing it safe, and Boyle - armed with zero budget - is doing anything but that here. Seizing upon the then new DV technology, Boyle experiments and explores, pushing himself to deliver something that visually replicates the grimy, grubby writing style of Cartwright and which, in turn, looks truly original. Remember when DV filmmaking seemed to promise that?
Boyle would later return to the big screen with 28 Days Later, a film which capitalised on some of the lessons he learned here. As a result, both this and Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise, the other TV film, are deeply significant works.
See previous review here
I hadn't seen this since it was last on TV so it's been quite fun viewing it again and a relief to see the passage of time hadn't enhanced my opinion of its quality.
Following the critical failures of A Live Less Ordinary and The Beach, Danny Boyle returned to television, where he originally started, to direct some low budget features brimming with originality, not least of all in the then new DV technology - a process he would go on to use when returning to the big screen with 28 Days Later.
The results of these endeavours were Strumpet and Vacuuming Completely Nude In Paradise, two one off plays (remember when TV did them?) by Jim Cartwright, the author…
Made during Danny Boyle's prolific burst in the early twenty-first century, after The Beach. Strumpet is a lean, brilliant film about two loners (Christopher Eccleston and Jenna G.) who stumble across each other and start making music together on the spot, a song which becomes hugely popular and sought after by the music industry. Anthony Dod Mantle, one of the best cinematographers in the business, shoots this in digital video, extremely messy, grainy, and mostly hand-held and with close-ups, perfectly capturing their lightning in a bottle, raw, physical talent. One of Boyle's best films, Strumpet goes by so fast it feels like a dream, a fairy-tale of the folly of trying to duplicate something that happens in the moment.
Shoutout to the fellow blankie who uploaded this to YouTube, been trying to track it down for a while.
When Eccleston was reading John Cooper Clarke at the start, I did not expect this to end with a bunch of dogs invading the Top of the Pops studio for a performance weirdly resembling Arcade Fire. Boyle going full manic with his Lyrics Displayed On The Screen trick he loves so much. It's grand, a bit John Carney and a bit A Star Is Born.
Now this is the Sex Pistols movie I wanted from Danny Boyle!
Sweet and scrappy. Strumpet is the decoder ring for my favorite director’s work after The Beach and God is it exciting to watch him reinvent himself shot by shitty shot.
Anthony Dod Mantle really made a career out of making stuff look like shit. No shade, he’s my favorite DP. (Kind of wish his new work looked this magnificently bad if I’m honest)
1.5 stars for the film, plus 1 star for where it fits in Danny Boyle’s career and the influence it clearly has on his future films.
christopher eccelston's character saw johnny fletcher from mike leighs naked once and said ''thats literally me!''
Seeing this, "Yesterday" makes more sense in Boyle's career. That being said, this is much better than "Yesterday" (which I don't hate either) Uplifting and sweet, worth the 72 minutes it lasts.
Recommend
Exactly the sort of film Boyle should have been making then and should be making now. The story is basic, but he imbues it with such an insane style, sticking the shitty DSR cameras onto every object and cast member on set so scenes could be filmed from fascinating new angles (seeing lyrics written from the perspective of the pen something totally new to me). The songs and politics too are emboldened and energetic in a way this trope rarely ever allows; when Eccleston belts out his working class poetry/pop song you buy it as a hit in a way you never quite do the fake songs they came up with for Yesterday, which recovers a lot of this same territory with far less authenticity and far fewer dogs.
A lot of fun. Killer song lyrics. Great punk atmosphere. Danny Boyle is a genius. Actors spot on. Give it a shot, eh?
A wonderful little gem from Danny Boyle, starring Christopher Eccleston as a Mancunian street poet, clearly inspired by John Cooper Clarke. It's this tiny budget thing he made just prior to 28 Days Later, that sees Boyle and Dod Mantle experimenting with the same digital camera tricks they would in 28 Days, and that has a really lovely little story at the heart of it. Genuinely one of Eccleston's best performances too.
get out get out
get out get out
get out get out
get out get out
get out get out
get out get out
