Saturday, 14 May 2022

VOD: Who Killed The KLF? (dir: Chris Atkins, 2022)

"They just did it and we enjoyed it - we enjoyed the moment."
 

Through previously-unheard audio interviews and a wealth of archive footage, the story of late 80s/early 90s music industry anarchists Bill Drummond and Jimi Cauty is revealed in this interesting documentary.  Like The KLF and its many incarnations, this is a beguiling, energetic and well-constructed patchwork of sound and image that mixes old footage with cannily-used reconstruction to show the evolution of their rebellious challenges to art, culture, society and the music industry and ultimately their short-lived but brilliant run as music chart stars before deliberately self-destructing.  Many of the key moments are covered well, including the ill-fated trip to Sweden (and a surprising appearance of a brief audio clip of The Queen And I), the press junket to The Isle of Jura, and the ill-fated Brit Awards debacle, but it leaves you wanting more about the abandoned film project The White Room...and there is no mention of the wonderful Kylie Said To Jason!  Nevertheless, there is plenty for fans to enjoy, including behind-the-scenes music video footage and delightful recounting of Tammy Wynette's involvement in one of their biggest hits, all in an attempt to capture the time period and their freewheeling unplanned journey as the ultimate independent artists, even though the film is shot through with a real feeling of sadness and emptiness as it seems the pair reached the point at which even they had no idea why they were doing their increasingly random acts.  Given that this is The KLF, one cannot help but wonder if some of this is yet another joke on the world, but overall the film is a bold attempt to convey their fleeting but enormous moment of zeitgeist-fuelled rebellion.

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