90. Burning Men; movie review

BURNING MEN
Cert 15
95 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong language, sex, drugs misuse

Do all young people use drugs? And are they really harmless?
The obvious answers are no and no but cinema-goers would certainly have the impression that both assertations are true, so often are they represented on the big screen.
Indeed, I am starting to get fed up of the casual use of heavy drugs in movies which are centred on folk in their 20s and 30s.
During Burning Men, the key players take chemical cocktails as a way of life.
How the penniless band-hopefuls can afford them or whether they are responsible for them failing to be contributing members of society is never addressed.
I digress.
The Burning Men are young musicians, Ray (Ed Hayter) and Don (Aki Omoshaybi) who, after being evicted from their London squat, decide to sell their vinyl collection and fly to Memphis to seek recognition and glory.
There is only one problem. They have no money and their records sell for only £150.
Thus, Ray steals an ultra-rare disc at a record fair and heads off to try to sell it for the thousands of pounds they need.
En route, they pick up two partying girls (Elinor Crawley and Katie Collins) and one (Crawley) stays with them on their adventure which leads to a devil cult.
That's right. Apparently, they have stolen a record which lures demons out of the underworld.
To be fair to Jeremy Wooding, his movie has significant ambitions despite being low-budget.
And, he has an interesting style of film-making with the actors constantly looking directly into the camera, giving it the feel of being seen entirely through the characters' eyes.
The main cast are also pretty engaging, playing out their road trip to a catchy soundtrack.
The problem is that the concepts of the migration to Memphis and the devil worship lack conviction and, consequently, the finale rather seeps away.
In addition, it simply didn't make me laugh. Indeed, I felt that there were too many in-jokes for music pseuds.

Reasons to watch: Offbeat British comedy-drama
Reasons to avoid: Doesn't achieve the laughs it strives for

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: Yes
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 6/10

Did you know? It is believed the highest amount paid for a vinyl record is $2million for Wu-Tang Clan's Once Upon A Time In Shaolin LP of which only one was produced.

The final word. Jeremy Wooding: "Burning Men is an original mix of road movie, buddy movie and psychological thriller. It's both a fun and often unsettling adventure."

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