Finlay Pretsell: Douglas Gordon by Douglas Gordon
A perilous character, that´s the title of the film, Douglas Gordon says to director Finlay Pretsell, when they are in the Berlin studio of the Scottish artist. I did not know the English word perilous, checked it and shook my head. No. I have no other suggestion and I think the one chosen is the right one. Gordon by Gordon, this is what it is, directed by Finlay Pretsell, poor guy I was thinking while watching, as Gordon is – an understatement – not an easy person to deal with for years I understand from the film, that includes a lot of dialogues, actually mostly monologues by Gordon telling Pretsell that he can´t make schedules for the shootings as he does not in advance, what is going to happen. He is right but what comes out in the film gives me, who knows about the artist, also from an exhibition in Denmark, a fascinating powerful portrait of a man close to his sixties, who as he says himself, has his head full of thoughts, ideas, memories… it’s never boring to be with him, also in archive, clips from 1996, when he receives an award, a young beautiful man till today 30 years later, a man with scars thinking and formulating sentences about Life and Death, a man with hernia (did I get that right?) that he puts plasters on the wound when settled?
Love and hate, it’s there already in the credits, Douglas Gordon loves D…, Douglas Gordon hates D. And the film opens with Gordon setting fire to cloths and other things in the studio. Dramatic as is the scene with the hernia and stopping blood to go to his hands BUT from there to Gordon or should I write Douglas with his soap bubbles towards the end of the film, wow for a change in time and mood. He performs, he calls his mother, he sings Scottish songs, he talks about the responsibility towards parents and sister and brother(s?) and children, blowing bubbles – there is something honest, fragile and beautiful in these scenes, it made me want to hug him – Finlay Pretsell does so on my behalf, wonderful!
Psycho scene in 24 hours, an elephant on the floor trying to sleep, Zinedine Zidane, clips from the fantastic football film, de Niro in the scene from “Taxi Driver”… and much more that I don´t know about from Douglas Gordon, now I know about him, loved him and loved the achievement of Finlay Pretsell, also a Scotsman like Gordon, who at a point tells the director “leave, I’ve had it” out from the studio, calling Pretsell several times to come back, I have a funny story to tell you.
What is happiness… to have a soap bubble stay on your nose. Watch this extraordinary film full of music in the studio as well, Siri play…!
United Kingdom, France, 88 mins.
