Rent Performance (1970)

Cultural Breakdown. - Performance review by Steve

This has a reputation as a cult-classic UK gangster film but that's only the first 45 minutes. James Fox is surprisingly good as a psychopathic Cockney heavy working for the London mob, who enthusiastically spreads fear and havoc among victims from across the social classes. 

The rest is a hallucinatory trip into his heart of darkness as he bunks up in the peeling Bohemian digs of Mick Jagger's fading hippy rock star. And it becomes an arthouse dreamscape about identity. The performers change under each other's influence, and their sexuality blurs.

All this owes more to Ingmar Bergman's Persona (1966) than the Krays. Though it is violent. Donald Cammell's quotable script seems to be written under the influence of Joe Orton, with its cheeky, threatening non-sequiturs. Nicolas Roeg was responsible for the psychedelic head-movie visuals.

The studio apparently expected The Rolling Stones version of A Hard Day's Night (1964) and were shocked by the realistic grime, sleaze and sexual content. And it is pretty scuzzy! This is Notting Hill well before gentrification. It's an ultra-hip period piece which has gained a devoted following over time.

Wild & Kaleidoscopic Exploration - Performance review by griggs

Performance is a wild, kaleidoscopic exploration of identity, power, and decadence. Mick Jagger’s enigmatic Turner blurs the lines between rock star persona and character in a way that feels both natural and surreal. James Fox is equally impressive, shedding his polished, upper-class image to deliver a tightly wound, transformative performance as Chas, a violent gangster spiralling into an existential crisis. The film’s fragmented narrative is complemented by its use of psychedelic visuals, which create an immersive and intoxicating atmosphere. However, it sometimes prioritises style over clarity, making the experience more disorienting than cohesive.

Controversial British Crime Drama - Performance review by GI

A strange, enigmatic and almost experimental film marked by the directorial debut of Nicolas Roeg who shared the director's chair with writer Douglas Cammell. Very controversial at the time due to the graphic sex and the drug taking it's rumoured the studio was expecting a sort of Rolling Stones version of A Hard Day's Night (1964) and held back the release for a couple of years over the weird narrative and graphic nature of the images. Viewed today it's a bizarre film with James Fox playing an East End crime enforcer who falls foul of his mob bosses and goes into hiding. He ends up as a lodger to a bohemian rock musician (Mick Jagger) and his two girlfriends (Anita Pallenberg & Michèle Breton) who introduce him to a new experience of drugs and free love. Story wise it's a weak film and is more appreciated for its striking pop art imagery and off kilter narrative. Various British character actors better known for their TV work pop up in various roles too but this is mainly a film to see out of interest that anything else. You'll either by absorbed by the whole thing for quickly dismiss it as an interesting experiment of the time.