REVIEW: Flim: The Movie

- By @TheBlueTook

After spending his younger days gazing in from the peripheries of the Indian movie scene, Ravi’s dreams of becoming a Tinseltown goliath are within his grasp. With a hastily increasing team in tow, we watch through the hand-held lens of an amateur documentary crew as he treads a most bizarre path to cinematic splendour.

Inspired by the likes of Ricky Gervais’ The Office, Chris Morris’ Brass Eye and even Steve Coogan’s Alan Partridge, Raffaello Degruttola’s debut feature, Flim: The Movie, is never too far from reaching the heights of its peers and, quite frankly, is nothing short of brilliant. He writes, directs and stars as the budding Asian flimmaker, eager to make the leap from Bollywood to Hollywood, via a British film funded by a dubious accountant and his suspicious associate.

An often brutal yet charmingly poignant journey from blind ambition to financial corruption - using the hilarious misadventures of a tragic ignoramus as its vehicle – Degruttola chucks a vulnerable and delusional foreigner into the lion’s den of British filmmaking and allows everything to unfold in a natural, spontaneous way. Coming from an improvisational background, his work is Dogme-esque in its approach and heavily influenced by a technique developed in Chicago, called ‘The Harold’. The use of actual locations, natural lighting, and a refusal to bring in props (we can make allowances for the ukulele!) adds to the non-scripted journey, and, with special effects largely forbidden, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s more fact than fiction. That is until painful, awkward exchanges build to hilarious absurdity and we’re smacked around the gaping chops by expertly-timed comedy gold – the loose, ambiguous structure paying off in spades.

Who’d have thought plotted dots on a whiteboard could be so fucking funny!

Aided by a perfectly assembled cast (including Steven Waddington, Camille Coduri, Simone Lahbib and Sadie Frost) we’re treated to a whole host of supporting players who could easily warrant a spin-off film of their own, all but a few proving to be just as flawed and unstable as Ravi, despite their controlled, professional exteriors. Stellar performances across the board provide the perfect blend of drama and comedy respite, with only a few characters possessing the ability to step back and understand the ludicrousness of it all with us at home – a nifty trick which helps hold the narrative together and release any pressure.

Although Ravi himself couldn’t be more of an ignorant chauvinist, by the time allegations of money laundering and harassment start to lift their ugly head - and his fantasies begin to disintegrate - you’ll be baying for him to succeed as he’s exploited, chewed up and spat out by devious corporate fatcats and falsely informed police before our very eyes. While it seems our anti-hero is an aspirer without much of a clue, unjustifiably proud and protective of achievements we’re never fully made aware of, Degruttola plays him with distinction – brimming with baffled expletives, archaic sexual opinion and cautious, awkward glances in our voyeuristic direction.

Finally, when the evidence Ravi has inadvertently helped to create is collected, we’re left to internally ponder one simple question: Was he ever really delusional at all?

Highly recommended!

“hhhhhhhhhaction…”

You can WATCH Flim: The Movie by clicking HERE

Also, click HERE to read my interview with Ravi himself, Raff Degruttola!

@TheBlueTook