10 - ‘Shane, don't film this bit’: Comedy and Performance in Le Donk and Scor-zay-zee

Summary

Le Donk and Scor-zay-zee is a significant film within Meadows' work because it is, as its DVD blurb attests, a ‘comedy’. This places it at odds with the dominant assumptions related to Meadows, which, while acknowledging comic moments are common in his films, categorise him primarily not as a comedic director. This means that reviews and previews for Le Donk often note that while the film has clear similarities to others directed by Meadows, it is of a different sort from what is normally expected of him. For example, in The Observer Sean O'Hagan notes how Paddy Considine's performance, in other films thought of as having a ‘dark intensity’, ‘is here reined in’ (2009: 4); the implication is that not all of Considine's acting muscles are stretched in Le Donk, even though many reviews acknowledge the extent that the film draws on his improvisational skills for much of its content. Marc Lee, in The Telegraph, questions the cinematic nature of Le Donk, suggesting that it is more akin to television, because ‘it isn't begging for the big-screen treatment’ (2009: 11); it therefore fails to adhere to the notions of ‘art cinema’ (2009) that David Forrest sees as emblematic of the majority of Meadows' work. And Ben Hopkins, in the online magazine Clash Music, enjoys the film, but calls it ‘rather lightweight’ and a ‘stopgap’ (2009), arguing in a manner similar to many other reviewers that Le Donk is an interesting experiment on the part of Meadows and Considine, but that we need to look elsewhere if we want to encounter their more substantial work.