Rent Uncle David (2010)

Spoilers follow ... - Uncle David review by NP

Anything written and acted by extreme performance artist David Hoyle was going to be an acquired taste. Given what appears to be a free reign, Hoyle’s eccentric ‘fly on the wall’ style takes a while to get used to, but is worth the initial trepidation. The trepidation being – at least in my case, watching this – you truly do not know what you are getting into.

So, what is this? A doomed love/horror story of Hoyle’s Uncle David and young, softly spoken Ashley, played by pornographic actor Ashley Ryder. It seems initially that the two men meeting for a break in a static caravan by the sea is little more than a platform for Hoyle’s philosophies on life, society and conformism. And then it becomes apparent that Ashley may well be dying. This appears to be treated with a calm assurance by the two, with Hoyle assuring Ashely of his ‘ascension into the stratosphere’.

Among Hoyle’s many profundities – some of which I whole-heartedly agree with, and others I do not (but who cares what I think??) – is the condemnation of ‘control freaks’ throughout society. And yet it appears that it is Uncle David who is gently persuading his young childlike ‘nephew’ that his imminent demise is a good, even beautiful thing; this is a powerful statement as he is orchestrating the passive Ashley into a mutually agreed suicide. Although having said that, Ashley has said that he wanted to die.

The location is beautifully used – the down-to-earth majesty of a British seaside town, with its stretching beach and horizons contrasting with the cardboard-like homeliness of the holiday home to allow for a fascinating backdrop. Whilst Ryder could be said to be underplaying his role, Hoyle is a captivating character. His viewpoints on, well, everything may be hard to hear at times, but they are never boring.

“The closer we are to oblivion, the happier we are.”

A curio of performance artist David Hoyle who'd be better served by a TV series or special revue - Uncle David review by PV

I really wanted to like this. The thing is, it's not entertaining, funny or profound.

I watched the 3 sketches on the extras - shot on hand-held video, maybe sketches done before the film as some scenes rehearsed there. Tbh performance artist David Hoyle would have been better served by a short TV drama with this wafer-thin story, or maybe a stand-up spot, a TV revue? A feature film is just the wrong context for his talent imho. Which is why this falls so flat. I'd prefer to see Hoyle live really in a venue, doing an act. I dare say it'd work well too in a way this just does not.

The 18 certificate is just for the footage of porn on screens in the background sometimes, I think, as just flaccid male nudity on show from professional porn actor Ashley Ryder so this must have been an easy gig for him then as he does not have to DO anything much. he is way too old to be playing a teenager too,. The use of the actor's real names David and Ashley for characters is very meta and postmodern, but ultimately rather pointless and pretentious.

I kept watching to be honest to see the landscape on the Isle of Sheppey which I know well. This is filmed on the east side of the island around Leysdown where the amusement arcades are - I have visited that place just once age 18/19. However, at the western point of the Isle of Sheppey is Sheerness where I spent many happy childhood holidays in the static caravan by dad owned - not on a gated organised site like there (and no running water in caravans, a communal tap and toilets is what we had in 1970s and 80s). Now a Tesco carpark, next to a Napoleonic moat and not far from Bluetown by the docks where Charles Dickens lived 2 years as a boy - he based Magwitch from Great Expectations on a real case and a prison ship moored off the east of the island.