Dir. DeZ Vylenz, 2003, UK, 80 mins
Cast: Alan Moore
An unconstructed voyage into the mind of one of the best loved writers working in comics today, The Mindscape of Alan Moore deals with the life and ideas of the occasionally reclusive auteur of comic book fiction.
Peering out from a thick full beard and lank, long hair which gets pushed from his face every few moments by a ringed hand, he is a mysterious figure for whom writing seems to be almost a hobby. His real interest is the art of magic and its implications and role in today's society.
Moore himself is a charismatic speaker; his lengthy diatribes to camera are hugely successful thanks to his distinctive Northamptonshire brogue and the frank honesty of his views. He comes across as a natural wit and, as his success in comics has proved, a compelling story teller. The stark honesty of his opening monologue as he tells how important emotional truth is in the art of writing is an effective starting point.
The biographical first half of the film sees Moore speaking about his roots in Northamptonshire (a region so prone to inbreeding that he remarks that even the dogs had cleft lips) and his graduation to working on some hugely prominent American comic book titles. This came after receiving awards from people in the UK with, as Moore playfully but probably accurately puts it, 'appalling social lives.'
Moore defends his medium, arguing that comics shouldn't always be about muscle bound men in tights, but can address any issues and themes the writer cares to depict. As an example of this he cites Swamp Thing, a DC Comic book which was about an 8 foot tall man-meets-foliage creature, who each issue would fight various similarly proportioned monsters. Needless to say, the book was struggling when Moore began his writing the title. He bravely wrote an entire issue devoted to sex and sensuality which, although a diversion from the accepted conventions, proved popular enough to signal an upturn in the comic's fortunes.
Coming a year after much publicity surrounding Moore's 50th birthday, there is little here that will be new to the dedicated fan and the brief running time doesn't really allow for too much in-depth exploration of the themes raised. Discussion of some of the key texts 'Watchmen, V For Vendetta and From Hell,' is shamefully rushed through as if Moore only agreed to participate in the project if he could speed through these chunks of his past in order to deal with the spiritual leanings that dominate the final half. Either that or there is some fascinating material that has been left on the cutting room floor.
A major drawback is VylenZ's lack of focus over the brief 80 minute running time. The film violently shifts emphasis to deal with Moore's attitudes to the world around him. It is at the point the quality of the production takes a downward shift. The excellent filmed inserts that worked so well when depicting his comic work (superb re-enactments of V For Vendetta and Watchmen look like they have been taken from film versions of the notoriously unfilmable texts) fail to have the same impact when illustrating the collapse of civilisation. Moore himself is visually strong enough to address the audience without the distraction of poorly filmed shots of the streets of London which barely seen relevant to his narration.
Although the films subject is well worth listening to, the project has the unfortunate distinction of coming over like a bonus feature from a DVD. The haphazard juxtaposition of two halves, while both interesting, unfortunately detract from the film as a whole. There are two separate films here and sadly neither is given sufficient room to breathe.
Jonathan Wilkins
|
