Review of Performance. (1970) by Sergio D — 10 Feb 2011
Gangland enforcer James Fox gets involved with decadent fading rock star Mick Jagger in Nicholas Roeg's and Donald Cammell's cult film.
Few films encapsulate drug-crazed Swinging 60s London like this one, though it was only seen three years after it was made and then heavily-edited because Warners were shocked at what they had financed. The film exceeded the boundaries of good taste that always epitomized British cinema.
This superbly shot, deeply disturbing, complex, often pretentious, often brilliant parable of confused identity was the first feature directed by leading cinematographer Roeg, sharing the credit with artist Cammell.
An eerily plausible Fox, cast against type, plays Chas, a sadistic gangster on the run who rents a room in the Notting Hill Gate home of Turner (Jagger), a reclusive, sexually ambiguous, washed-up rock star. Fox, his antithesis, is offered women and magic mushrooms before literally swapping personalities with the singer.
Fox abandoned the cinema for almost a decade after this film, such was its effect on him.
Verdict A dazzling, ideas-rich, extraordinarily inventive full-stop to the 60s.
This review of Performance. (1970) was written by Sergio D on 10 Feb 2011.
Performance. has generally received positive reviews.
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