Kat in <Les Dogs>

[jim%BILPIN.UUCP@mitvma.mit.edu]

    #[v_gaffa.8]
    'Les Dogs' ( To One in Paradise )

    "All last night I couldn't sleep. I lay awake for hours, wrestling with
    the problems that face us today and all our tomorrows; and in the early
    hours of the morning, as the dawn rose above Westminster, I reached a
    decision - and the decision I made was ... to ban the motor car. No more
    noise, no more pollution, no more traffic wardens, no more waste of
    resources and finances. Just the swish of the bicycle tyre, and the
    distant sound of the toot, toot, tooting of the steam-driven public
    transport."

    Thus begins the Comic Strip film <Les Dogs> ( the subtitle is mine -
    it's a clue - well, it's Poe's, actually ), Kate's acting debut, set in
    an alternative present Britain, in which the Green Worker's Party has
    imposed a military dictatorship. I'll try not to reveal too much of the
    plot, ( somewhat spoiled for readers of the <Radio Times> ( the BBC's
    programme guide ) by the ending being revealed in the programme summary
    - and this a week after ITV revealed the complete plot and ending of
    <The Hunt for Red October> in their main evening news bulletin - what
    are these people up to ?! ), as you'll enjoy it much more through
    working out for yourself what really happened in the past and the
    present - I expect someone else will be unsubtle enough to oblige,
    anyway. So, herewith, a brief and hopefully tantalising synopsis.

    The film tells, in a series of flashbacks and intertwined dream
    sequences, of the central character Victor's passion for, and affair
    with, a beautiful young bride ( played by Someone We All Know ). Or
    perhaps I should say 'hints at', rather than 'tells', as little is as it
    seems, much is fantasy and might-have-beens. The first view of Kate (
    Angela ) is sitting at the wedding reception, seen obliquely through her
    veil, as the best man ( Adrian Edmondson ) stumbles through a desperate
    speech at which no-one laughs, as the couple's families, from different
    social planes, loathe each other intensely. Victor ( Peter Richardson )
    stumbles into the ensuing gun battle ( "Which side are you on - the
    bride's or the groom's?" "I just came in to find the toilet." ) after
    his car has been involved in an accident. Roped in to take the wedding
    photographs, Victor becomes infatuated with the lovely woman in white
    seen through the viewfinder, and follows her later when he sees her
    drifting along a hotel corridor in her flowing gown. Losing her, he
    finds her again, unconscious on the floor, surrounded by relatives. Why
    did she faint? Who knows? They don't. He pretends to be a doctor, and
    carries her off into the honeymoon suite ... ( Don't worry, he only
    takes off one of her shoes. ) The secret affair goes on for several
    years, as Angela and her husband Jeff ( Danny Peacock ) now have two
    children, and 'uncle' Victor is now a close friend of the reconciled
    families. Jeff is desperately in love with Angela; it seems he may know
    of the affair. Will she leave him? Jeff might kill himself without her (
    "I love her, Victor. She means more to me than anything in the world."
    ), but she loves Victor intensely. They have by now surreptitiously
    arranged to run off together. Does it ever happen? ( I believe the final
    kiss, as the headlights glare down, proves otherwise. ) Does only the
    talking doll know the real answers? ( "Why, hello, Santa, you dumb
    gutless rat. So howdya like the future, asshole?" )

    This is all really rather good, one of the Comic Strip's best, a sad,
    haunting, magical tale of doomed love. The perhaps trite romantic thread
    is woven through a manic mixture of fantasy and reality which makes for
    an engrossing half hour. ( Of course, if you don't like romances, it may
    not appeal. However, if you cried at the end of <Somewhere in Time>,
    you'll love it. ) How much ever happened, how much was wish fulfillment
    in the dream state, and how the relationship was resolved, you'll have
    to decide for yourself. Kate's performance is natural and relaxed; a
    gentle introduction into acting ( Angela doesn't actually speak until
    halfway through, and she spends part of the film unconscious ), and one
    which I hope she will follow up with more complex roles in the future.
    Usually only hearing her singing, I had almost forgotten what a lovely
    speaking voice she has - soft and melodious - and one which conveys
    breathless passion effortlessly - Victor never had a chance. I hope that
    Kate's pleased with the film - it's just the sort of imaginative drama
    that we could have hoped for her to appear in, and another success for
    the writer/director Peter Richardson - but whenever will those outside
    the UK have a chance to see it?

    ( 'Les Dogs' are the heavy metal band hired to play at the wedding
    reception, by the way. What I want to know is, what is the relevance of
    the GWP? )

    "The next thing I'm going to ban is television - no more passive and
    indiscriminate viewing of second-hand tat and trivia. Instead, we're
    going to make our own entertainment - a world of books, of fireside
    conversations, and the writing of very, very long letters. ... Which
    brings me to the telephone ... and the racing pigeons."
--
    Another Fine Product from <mcvax!ukc!icdoc!bilpin!jim> <jim@bilpin.uucp>
			   $JimG : Hatfield, England
	    You don't have to be patient when you're as big as I am.