RAGE

UK, 2009, 99 minutes, Colour.
Simon Abkarian, Patrick J. Adams, Riz Ahmed, Bob Baliban, Adriana Barazza, Steve Buscemi, Jakob Cedergren, Lily Cole, Judi Dench, Eddie Izzard, Jude Law, John Leguizamo, David Oyelowo, Diane Weist.
Directed by Sally Potter.

'It's all the rage', a fashion world slogan at the start of the film, which then deletes 'it's all the' and leaves us with some individual rages, some off-screen industrial protest and some angry mayhem, again off-screen.

It is important to re-iterate 'off-screen' because on screen we have 90 minutes of talking heads. That can only be an endurance for many audiences. Fair enough. And the talk has to be interesting and of some depth. Also fair enough. But it can also be a creative challenge, a concentration effort to listen to the speakers, study their faces and body language. So, for talking heads fans, this is something of a must.

Sally Potter has made idiosyncratic dramas and experiments. Her screenplay for her previous film, Yes, was in verse.

This is low-budget film-making: performer, blue screen, cinematographer (Potter herself), sound engineer, just the three in a photographer's studio. Then, the director has made her options of how to cut the speeches, edit them and the order in which she thinks the pieces will work best dramatically and advance the (off-screen) plot.

Ostensibly, we have seven days (with typed captions per day) where 14 individuals associated with a fashion show confide in a young, unseen photographer, Michelangelo, making a student film and (to the embarrassment of some) putting clips on his website.

As the days progress, there are marketing meetings for a new perfume, M, and the creative antics of the designer, the bosses, a photographer, an intern, a pizza delivery man turned model, some models and, after some murders, a Shakespeare quoting detective.

So, it is the performances which count. The standout is the transvestite model, Minx. Those who don't know it is Jude Law will enjoy the shock of discovery. Those who do will be amazed at the quality of Law's impersonation.

All the performances are effective but Dianne Wiest as the sweet-sounding (but determined) manager, Judi Dench as a caustic critic, Eddie Izzard as a nouveau riche owner, Steve Buscemi as a photographer, Patrick J. Adams as the calculating young intern and Simon Abkarian as Merlin the designer stand out even as the others are very good.

Cinematic? Very much, not... But cinematic in a different, focused style with emphasis on language, vocal and bodily.

1.A low-budget experiment, as drama?

2.How cinematic the film, talking heads, faces and expressions, voices, the insertion of various clips from each character? Cumulative effect?

3.The strong colour, the blue screen and the changes of colour, the visual interest, costumes, makeup, character and clothes?

4.The performance of each of the characters, to the camera, audience response?

5.The off-screen action, New York setting, the fashion show, the models’ room, the shooting, the protest outside?

6.The title, the quotation ‘all the rage’, becoming rage? Rage and fashion, rage and fashion as a symbol? The types in the fashion world, creative, sensitive, exercising power, vindictive, jealous, ambitious? Protest? The globalisation of fashion, the dominance of clothes made in China?

7.The characters and their self-revelation, the contribution to the plot? Michelangelo as the young man behind the camera, the captions for each day of the week? His student film, his listening, people making him a confidant? His putting material on the website, the various reactions, especially Otto’s hostility?

8.The website, the niche audience for fashion, targets for marketing, for buying? The comment on internet technology? The users of the Net? Net buying?

9.Miss Roth, Edie? Her life, her parents, the company, going global, her dealing with people, managing, her assessment of the situation – and the twinkle in her eye as she decided to join the protest outside the firm?

10.Tiny Diamonds, his clothes, the new owner, his being busy, marketing, listening to people, especially Dwight Angel? The meetings, ideas? The perfume? His comment on the other characters? On Mona and her writing for a magazine he owned? The owning of magazines, control?

11.Bradley White, his age, role, adapting, his comment about morals, relativity, his being fired, his book and the various chapter headings?

12.Dwight Angel as the young intern, his ideas, the letter M for the perfume, his banal observations, being an opportunist, ambitious, focusing on the under twenty-fives, taking Mr White’s job, the website and his using it, his reliance on Michelangelo?

13.Mona, the snob, the critic, her taste, sense of superiority, her talking about freedom, her cynical attitudes?

14.Frank, the fashion photographer, the variety of situations, age and experience, opportunities?

15.Jed and his being a bodyguard, the first time being interviewed, his self-image, his work, the shootings?

16.Merlin, camp manner, his ideas, design, his pretentiousness, his overacting, his treatment of the models, the use of the gun and his explanation?

17.Lettuce Leaf, the new face of last year, the model, her fears, reliance on Michelangelo and her disappearance?

18.Minx, the transvestite model, Jude Law in this performance, costumes and wigs, accent and changing accent, talking and confiding in Michelangelo, his story, his mother, his clothes, the money and his career, jealousies, friendships, thinking that he could have been a psychiatrist?

19.Anita de los Angeles, invisible, sewing, her comments on the other characters?

20.Otto, public relations, his ideas, being on the defensive, anti-Michelangelo about the web postings?

21.Vijay and his delivering the pizza, being interviewed, the way others regarded him, Merlin giving him the opportunity to be a model, with the other models, a career?

22.Homer, the American detective, dapper, late in getting information, asking information from Michelangelo, quoting Shakespeare all the time?

23.The overall effect of this kind of experience of talking heads in the context of the fashion world? Drama or not? Insight or not?