Le Donk & Scor-Zay-Zee

If you’ve got a project that falls through, there are often not a lot of options available for you to fill in your time. Watch more television perhaps? Catch up on your reading? Resolve to finally discover what that strange smell is coming from under the floorboards? However, if you’re Shane Meadows, then there’s another option: grab your best mate (who happens to be quite famous), sink around 50 grand of your own cash and then make a semi-improvised movie over the course of five days.

The resulting film is a fun little feature highlighted by Paddy Considine as burnt out roadie Le Donk. Slightly disillusioned with life and dealing with the fact that his ex-girlfriend (Peep Show’s Olivia Colman) is about to give birth to his child whilst starting a new relationship, Le Donk still manages to keep a positive spin on circumstances. Under the watchful eye of documentary maker Shane Meadows (who you may have heard of), Le Donk hopes to bring his new rapper protégé Scor-Zay-Zee to the attention of the world at an Artic Monkeys gig.

Everyone is clearly having the time of their lives with everyone revelling in the fact that they’re mostly making it up as we go along and having a grand old time. As Le Donk, Considine brings a heady mix of malapropisms, extended whacked out anecdotes and song lyrics including “Calm down Deirdre Barlow.” The interplay between him and Meadows is a joy to behold, with a comfortable chemistry (they’ve actually been riffing on the character for years). Indeed, the film slightly pokes fun at both Meadows status as a filmmaker and Considine himself, with Le Donk’s reminisces of Meadows’ film adding some meta-textual moments. And Scor-Zay-Zee is also very funny, the portly English rapper basically playing himself (he originally auditioned as an extra the day before shooting began, and Meadows liked him so much, he cast him in the movie).

But, whilst it’s all a lot of fun, it also feels slightly indulgent as if it’s a joke of which you only know part of the set-up. As such, even at a lean 70 minutes, the film runs out of steam and the last half an hour begins to drag. Still, one has to admire the films passion and enthusiasm and – as it is now being billed as the first ‘Five Day Feature’ – it will be interesting to see how other filmmakers take up the gauntlet.

Laurence Boyce

Anticipation:

Anytime Meadows and Considine get together, you know you’re probably in for something special.

Enjoyment:

Loads of quality scenes and laugh out loud moments.

In Retrospect:

It is really, really fun, but it never quite sustains momentum.