Filth and Wisdom (2008)

Director:

Madonna

Writers:

Madonna (written by) &
Dan Cadan (written by)

Release Date:

17 September 2008 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Music | Romance

Plot:

A comedy centered on three flatmates living desperate lives in London.

Plot Keywords:

Gypsy | Thong | Punk Rock Band | Red Panties | Cultural Revolution

Cast

Eugene Hutz	...	A.K.
Holly Weston	...	Holly
Vicky McClure	...	Juliette
Richard E. Grant	...	Professor Flynn
Inder Manocha	...	Sardeep
Elliot Levey	...	Business Man
Francesca Kingdon	...	Francine
Clare Wilkie	...	Chloe
Stephen Graham	...	Harry Beechman
Hannah Walters	...	Business Man's Wife
Shobu Kapoor	...	Sardeep's Wife
Ade	...	DJ
Guy Henry	...	Lorcan O'Niell
Nunzio Palmara	...	Nunzio
George Keeler	...	Frail Man
Tim Wallers	...	Mr. Frisk
Olegar Fedoro	...	A.K.'s Father (as Olegar Fedorov)
Luca Surguladze	...	Young A.K.
Steve Allen	...	Mikey
Shakeel Orr-Deen	...	Sardeep's Child 1 (as Shakeel Orr-Dean)
Anya Chowdhry	...	Sardeep's Child 2
Harley Sobraj	...	Sardeep's Child 3
Iman Muneer	...	Sardeep's Child 4
Yasmin Muneer	...	Sardeep's Child 5
Amar Thethi	...	Sardeep's Child 6
Mickey Drameh	...	Beechman's Club Owner
Tracey Simmonds	...	Pole Dancer
William Musyk	...	Club Owner
Marina Baldewnkova	...	Club Owner Girlfriend
Eliot Ferguson	...	Gogol Bordello: Drums
Roland Price	...	Ballet Teacher
Elizabeth Sun	...	Gogol Bordello: Percussion / Dancer
Shawn Holmes	...	Pianist
Evgeny Nikolaev	...	Gogol Bordello: Vocals
Oren Kaplan	...	Gogol Bordello: Guitar
Pamela Racine	...	Gogol Bordello: Percussion / Dancer
Sergei Ryabtsev	...	Gogol Bordello: Violin (as Sergey Ryabtsev)
Yuri Lemeshev	...	Gogol Bordello: Accordion (as Yury Lemeshev)
Thomas Gobena	...	Gogol Bordello: Bass
Lorea Hernandez	...	Ballet Dancer
Maria Irisarri	...	Ballet Dancer
Nouska Hanly	...	Ballet Dancer
Ivan Putrov	...	Ballet Dancer
Layla Harrison	...	Ballet Dancer
T. Rene	...	Ballet Dancer
Fiona Robertson	...	Ballet Dancer
Jolice Truter	...	Ballet Dancer
Amber Doyle	...	Ballet Dancer
Lauren Adams	...	Ballet Dancer
Penelope Sharp	...	Ballet Dancer
Caroline Crawley	...	Ballet Dancer
Claire Anne Elliott	...	Ballet Dancer
Julien Roussel	...	Ballet Dancer
Benjamin Ord	...	Ballet Dancer
Fiona Jopp	...	Ballet Dancer
Olivia Jenkins	...	Ballet Dancer
Elena Poris	...	Ballet Dancer
Heather Craig	...	Ballet Dancer
Mayumi Yoshida	...	Ballet Dancer
David Murley	...	Ballet Dancer
Danibelle Bryce	...	Ballet Dancer
Luana Nalah	...	Ballet Dancer
Angela Harding	...	Ballet Dancer
Lucy Dean	...	Ballet Dancer
Rebecca Emmett	...	Ballet Dancer
Elena Buda	...	Ballet Dancer (as Elena Hardy)
Katrina Hawkins	...	Ballet Dancer
Joanna Woodliffe	...	Ballet Dancer

Directed by
Madonna

Writing credits
Madonna		(written by) &
Dan Cadan		(written by)

Produced by
Angela Becker	....	associate producer
Nicola Doring	....	producer
Madonna	....	executive producer

Cinematography by
Tim Maurice-Jones		(director of photography) (as Tim Maurice Jones)

Casting by
Daniel Hubbard

Production Design by
Gideon Ponte

Costume Design by
B. Akerlund		(as B)

Makeup Department
Dejan Cekanovic	....	hair stylist
Irene Christophis	....	assistant makeup artist
Sinden Dean	....	makeup designer
Vesna Giordano	....	prosthetic makeup artist
Randolph Gray	....	assistant hair stylist
Yin Lee	....	makeup assistant: additional photography
Melanie Szabo	....	assistant makeup artist (as Melanie 'Mel' Szabo)
Koji Takayanagi	....	hair assistant: additional photography
Franco Vallelonga	....	assistant hair stylist
Xabier	....	makeup assistant: additional photography

Production Management
Sue Hiller	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Tony Fernandes	....	first assistant director
Ben Howard	....	second assistant director
Andrew Mannion	....	third assistant director

Art Department
Rob Anderson	....	construction coordinator

Sound Department
Simon Bysshe	....	additional boom operator
Paul Carter	....	sound effects editor
Matthew Collinge	....	supervising sound editor
Sebastian Dale	....	assistant sound effects editor
Arthur Fenn	....	boom operator
Ben Greaves	....	additional production sound mixer
Mike Hasler	....	boom operator
Simon Hayes	....	production sound mixer
Robin Johnson	....	boom operator
Michael Maroussas	....	dialogue editor
Adam Mendez	....	sound re-recording mixer
James Seddon	....	dolby consultant
Danny Sheehan	....	supervising sound editor
Tim Surrey	....	sound assistant

Special Effects by
Vesna Giordano	....	special effects makeup

Visual Effects by
Ellora Chowdhury	....	telecine producer
James Cundill	....	online editor
Jean-Clement Soret	....	digital colourist
Pat Wintersgill	....	on-line editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Tash Gamper	....	first assistant camera
Guy Hazel	....	focus puller
Mark Packman	....	electrician
Dominic Rau	....	key video assist
Gary Varney	....	gaffer
Peter Wignall	....	camera operator

Casting Department
Kay Gannon	....	extras casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Alison McLaughlin	....	costume supervisor

Editorial Department
Chris Andrews	....	negative cutter
Sabine McDonald	....	negative cutter
Kelly Smith	....	negative cutter

Transportation Department
Guy Bostock	....	picture car coordinator
Mickey Gocool	....	driver: minibus

Other crew
Claudia Cimmino	....	production coordinator
Tim Davies	....	assistant location manager
Denise Furano	....	assistant: M
Karen Gottlieb	....	production attorney
Keith Hatcher	....	location manager
Tee Lapan	....	production coordinator
Jamie Lengyel	....	location manager: additional photography
Elliott Meddings	....	assistant location manager
Chris Morgan	....	location scout
Tiffany Olson	....	choreographer
Angie Pontefract	....	script supervisor
Winston Thomas	....	security: Madonna

Production Companies

• Semtex Films (presents)
• HSI Films (produced in association with) (as HSI London)

Distributors

• IFC Films (2008) (USA) (theatrical)
• Ascot Elite Entertainment Group (2008) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Front Row Filmed Entertainment (2008) (Iran) (theatrical)
• Hexagon Pictures (2009) (Japan) (theatrical)
• La Fabrique de Films (2008) (France) (theatrical)
• Miracle Voice (2009) (Japan) (theatrical) (in association with)
• Surreal Films (2008) (Russia) (theatrical)
• Syrena Films (2009) (Poland) (theatrical)
• Ascot Elite Home Entertainment (2008) (Germany) (DVD)
• CCRE (2009) (Japan) (DVD)
• Cinema Mondo (2008) (Finland) (all media)
• Front Row Filmed Entertainment (2008) (United Arab Emirates) (all media) (Middle East)
• Midas Filmes (2009) (Portugal) (all media)

Other Companies

• Anvil Post Production  sound post-production
• Casting Collective  extras casting
• Creative Artists Agency (CAA)  filmmakers representation
• Dolby Laboratories  sound mix
• Eastside Communications  publicity: Germany
• Movie Lot, The  security
• Soundtrack  trailer

Also Known As:

"Wonderlust" - Japan (English title)

Runtime:

UK:81 min (PAL Version)

Country:

UK

Language:

English | Russian | Hindi

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Japan:PG-12 | USA:Unrated | Sweden:15 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:NC-16

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

Semtex Films

Goofs:

Continuity: In the scene where Juliette is talking to A.K and is angry at him she is wearing suspenders. However, when the camera pans to the back of her head her suspenders are not visible.

Quotes:

A.K.:Humanity seems to be divided into two categories. People trying to be good and people trying to be bad, but personally I don't see so much difference.If you spend your whole life as a saint, eventually you will crave the opposite and the filth will appear as an oasis in the desert but if you spend your life in the gutter, sooner or later you will be searching for wisdom. Like a pig sniffing for truffles.

Movie Connections:

References Mary Poppins (1964)

Soundtrack:

Me Darava

Very Disappointing

OK, so let me just say that I came into this as a huge fan of Eugene Hutz and Gogol Bordello and while I don't enjoy her music, I like Madonna's persona and was very excited to see the film.

On the upside, this movie did have some interesting ideas on, well... filth and wisdom, sex work and art. Unfortunately, the story-telling vehicle meant to get us to these ideas was so appalling that Mr. Hutz had to narrate them to us fairly explicitly. For ideas to work in a film WITHOUT an engrossing storyline, those ideas better be pretty profound (which these aren't) otherwise it just looks like the amateurish work of an angsty teen (which this did).

To make it all the more disappointing, the character set ups were GOOD. I wanted to like and know about each of the three protagonists and their relationships to each other. Unfortunately, everything goes downhill after we meet them. Their back stories are only hinted at, their motives and personalities one-dimensional and their stated relationships lacked the slightest chemistry. The secondary characters were worse.

So, what happened and who do we hold accountable for ruining this film? Someone was handed a great cast to play exciting characters, a nice little premise and some passable thematic ideas and yet it bombed. The real achievement of this film is that it managed to be as unwatchable as it was. The only real reason to sit through this pile is for the the sheer erotic thrill of seeing Eugene Hutz as a male dominatrix, and if that doesn't get you rocks off, then I'd just skip it all together.