Dir. John Dullaghan, 2003, 89 mins
Both lauded and loathed throughout his career, and epitomising the damaged, heavy drinking, misanthrope poet writer genius, Charles Bukowski lead an extraordinary life, documented here by debut director John Dullaghan. Always a cult figure and pinnacle of the counter culture, Bukowski carried the torch first lit by the great American writers of the fifties. His writing came as a natural foil to his suffering. He was relentlessly beaten by his father and cursed with severe acne. Always outspoken and shockingly honest, Bukowski is laid bare with this film showing the many sides to the myth. There is surprisingly tender emotion as Bukowski fails to hold back tears when reciting a poem, but also bitter bile as he verbally abuses his girlfriend in front of the camera. A chronic alcoholic, he was known for his wit and pithy comments, and in contrast he is also shown here as a smug, pathetic drunkard, a performing monkey, racking his brains for a suitably memorable quip.
The film is composed from lots of archive footage, including readings, interviews and documentaries supplemented by recent interviews. Bukowki is hugely influential with today's creative minds. Anecdotes, analysis and eulogies come from Sean Penn, Bono, Tom Waits and Harry Dean Stanton and others. The most enlightening though, are his ex girlfriends and widow Linda Lee Bukowski. From a young age, women had been a bane for him, and when he eventually experienced success he took full advantage of his adoring female fans. In fact, often criticised for misogyny Bukowski relates that relative to the scorn he shows men, he actually treats women very well. Revisiting the house where he grew up, Bukowski reminisces about his childhood, but the documentary mainly traces his adult career, from his first poems and short stories, through his novels and screenplay Barfly, which was made into a feature film directed by Barbet Schroeder and starring Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway.
Former advertising copywriter Dullaghan has to be admired and praised for spending seven years, whilst holding down other jobs and relying on self-financing with very little money, to make this film, an obvious labour of love. Unfortunately these testing conditions are reflected on the screen. The low production quality of the recent interviews is apparent, the music is conspicuous in its inability to be noticed and the editing displays a passion for the subject that results in a fear of leaving any Bukowski on the cutting room floor, however prosaic. Consequently there is a reliance on the source footage to do the work instead of the film using it as a base and supporting and enhancing it to make something better. It is a shame and detracts from what is otherwise a fascinating, thought provoking and moving documentary. Any fans of Bukowski will be riveted, but for the general viewer this is a lost opportunity to produce a film that seduces the audience into the visceral and uncompromising world of Charles Bukowski.
Dullaghan's passion for his subject may add to this, by trying to fit in every piece of footage he can. This film isn't bad, but it could be so much more, there is a reliance on the footage to do the work, instead of supporting it and making something better.
Gavin Bush
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