User Reviews

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

The first thing you must realize about this film is that there are no good guys. Our protagonist (played by the enigmatic Antony Sher) is a selfish, callous lout with not much to say for him except that he knows how enough to run his own business. However, since there is a pointed scene including collectivist agitators, even that acumen appears to have been subverted by the writer/director. Patrick Macnee as the self-absorbed and incestuous Sir Cyril draws no sympathy, even when he is kidnapped and disfigured. His daughter, Carol, played by lovely Leslie Ash is a pompous and vain fool which even a nod towards impetuous youth cannot overcome. Her only positive personality trait is that she shares Shadey's odd humor and proclivities. Katherine Helmond as the abused and maniacal Lady Constance is a morose pain in the rear, and her compulsive delight in exacting revenge from all who surround her is entertaining but not endearing. Even her eventual institutionalization does not draw much, if any, audience empathy. Billy Whitelaw brilliantly portrays the mannish Doctor Cloud (the foil to the effeminate Shadey) but there is a leering and manipulative quality which always keeps her on the outskirts of likable. Only the piggish Captain Amies (Bernard Hepton) has even a hint of humanity, and for it he is killed in a most sadistic moment.

The second thing you must realize is that the film Shadey is an agent provocateur. It is subversive. The audience is connived to plausibly accept incest in the same cavalier manner as father and daughter. Transsexual and transvestite behavior is paraded as perfectly normal, but religion is skewered in a distasteful exchange of dialogue regarding Christ, God, and body parts. Besides these sexual mores, capitalism gets the aforementioned slap, the human mind is derided, and there is a perverse scene in an elevator that is almost certainly meant to be blasphemous. Disfigurement is presented in at least two shocking scenes, debasement is on display during a coal-eating moment (!), and even the function of eating is more than once exaggerated to gluttony of unreal proportions.

The third thing you must realize is that by watching the film you are being put on. The filmmakers absolutely desire you to self-consciously notice that there are no good guys (even spies on the same team double-cross each other) and no rules (really? a garroting in a high security area? a kidnapping at a park in broad daylight and no one notices?). This is to distract you from the fact that the entire movie is a joke... on you. There is no story. Here is the plot: a naive fellow with psychic powers approaches a filthy government official (Sir Cyril) with an offer to help with any project but a military one. Naturally, he is immediately double-dealt, but with such ineptness that a cadre of government agents (whose, we really don't know) are soon falling over themselves to abduct him. Meanwhile, Cyril's family is a mess, and Shadey is not there to help. As a matter of fact, he's there to foment trouble and get exactly what he wants, to the point that by film's end you realize that you've been had. Shadey is no naif but a wily entangler.

The outcome is not assured. Several subplots are left undone, and several relational issues are never resolved. One cannot either be confident that Shadey is human, for there are overtones that he may be demon, angel, god, or alien.

If it sounds like fun, it may be. Possibly a dozen times I stared incredulously at the screen and said, "What?" A few times I had to blink.

It's not necessarily a "deep" film but it is a tapestry of sorts. The hit-and-run attitude is almost like Kentucky Fried Movie and the looseness is like A Fish Called Wanda on acid.

Give it a try.

It's a sombre piece about a remote viewer who is seconded into the UK intelligence services to essentially spy. There's an odd assortment of actors Billie Whitelaw as the strong MI6 (?) boss who manages Shadey, Katherine Helmond as a mad American lady, Patrick Macnee in the usual gentleman style and of course Antony Sher as the conflicted almost fish out of water clairvoyant. The movie is slow but you are routing for Shadey and there is a late movie shock moment where something happens to him but it sort of turns out OK. A forgotten mini cult, classic. I would imagine that it's maybe a movie that is quite difficult to get hold of, it's certainly worth it, the most similar American movie I know of in terms of pace and the occasional dark humour is Safety Not Guaranteed perhaps.