Rating: 8/10
Running Time: 71 minutes
UK Certificate: 15
Le Donk and Scor-zay-zee is a witty mockumentary road movie featuring the exploits of roadie Le Donk (Considine) and his tubby rap-prodigy Scor-zay-zee as they journey to Manchester where they hope to become the Arctical Monkeys newest warm up act. We are treated to an abundance of cringing and heartwarming moments as Le Donk tries to come to terms with being a father and having one final shot at stardom. As he is followed around by a documentary film crew the pressure starts to tell which leads to a series of trivial confrontations with the film crew and the used-and-abused Scor-zay-zee.
As is usually the case with the kitchen sink movies of Shane Meadows, it is punctuated with gloriously understated and improvised humour. There are some great comedy highlights, including namedropping Tinkywinky and Harold Shipman into the same rap song and an endearing account of a sexual encounter with a hermaphrodite. Le Donk is a classic character who you can both warm to and laugh at for his imbecility and skewed views on the situations he encounters.
The main reason this seventy-one minute gem has to be commended is that it was filmed over only five days and cost just £50,000. Its part of Meadows Five Day Features initiative, which aims to get more people into directing and tries to put the emphasis on tight and spontaneous filming. The unpredictability shines through and the film is lean and mean with the most being made out of every relatively simple scene. It’s a big positive that this lacks the fillers that bog down other more mainstream comedies as they are stretched to reach an ‘acceptable’ length.
It's Got: Great understated humour, brilliant characters and some awful rapping
It Needs: More publicity and an American release.
Summary
A short and sweet mockumentary that was remarkably made in just five days.