Review of Performance. (1970) by Ivan M — 03 May 2012

One of the most bizzare films I've ever seen in my life, it's something that strangely grows on you. It's a psychadelic taster of the chaotic, sex drugs & rock'n'roll atmosphere of the late 60s.

Boiling the plot down to a bare nutshell, it is the story of Chas (James Fox), a 'performer', or a young London gangster who, after being forced to kill somebody in his flat, spends a day or two hiding out with former rockstar Turner (Mick Jacker), changing his appearance drastically in order to leave the country safely with a forged passport.

The main theme of the movie is the gradual merging of Chas and Turner's personalities and appearances. Nicolas Roeg's choppy and experimental style of direction makes this a memorably wierd experience, and with strange sequences that come seemingly out of nowhere, it's as if the film is a bunch of drug-induced hallucinations.

It takes a large effort to understand it, and the majority of today's mainstream audiences would walk out within the first ten minutes sadly, but there is something I can't put my finger on that makes it a film which I think is very significant.

A mind-bending and fascinating movie.