As two disillusioned flat mates the consciously plump producer Trudy Jones-McCrone and the thinly talented actor Luna Sea attempt to propel themselves into the filmic limelight, their equilibrium is upset by hierarchies, selfish actors, lunatic writers, and an unscrupulous director, Vic Young. The journey that they are both about to undertake will test their faith in their art, human nature and, above all else, each other.
As a self-styled black comedy, this film within a film adopts 'The Office'-style documentary approach that contains some genuinely funny Scots' humour that covers the width of the spectrum, from polished wit to bodily function gags. The premise of the film itself is interestingly layered as it depicts just how difficult some find the process of writing films, having that film made, and then exhibited; this is interlaced with the trials and tribulations of a struggling actor's life and all the upheavals that vocation brings.
As an obviously ironic piece from independent filmmakers themselves, one is forced to wonder just how much of this feature comes from elements of the Finnigans' own personal experience. Duncan Finnigan, as the dodgy film producer Vic Young, shows that he is clearly more talented than his camera operating background alone; in this type of role he is in his element and his improvisations contribute enormously to the comedy element. The film narrative itself seems adamant no matter what life may throw at you that pursuing your art is imperative, even if there are "36,000 unemployed actors" out there or your best ideas are Star Trek meets Philadelphia and pitched as "aids in space"!
Another dimension to the piece is the personas that the struggling actor, Luna, adopts; he writes his scripts verbatim from the situations and people around him yet paradoxically in his portrayals of other people he seems at his most uniquely gifted as an actor, and as such his character asks questions of whether anything can truly be original anymore.
As a comedy the film works well, even if the jokes may be deemed a little low-brow by some. The film offers some sharp editing and an intertextual homage to film noir, comics, and the docu-soap; it is worth a view as a comment on artistic (art, film, music) endeavour alone and although the narrative is conventional, it is far removed from mainstream concerns.
The film itself may be seen as a humorous façade within which hides the unsavoury nature of not just the film industry but life itself as it covers lies, adultery, betrayal, and the futility of placing faith in others inevitably prompting one to question whether things actually will work out alright in the end.
In an industry where the mainstream is rapidly dictating the way of the art, this light-hearted comedic romp is a valuable reflection of how those in positions of funding power take precedent over creative content a concern this particular film is always going to avoid.
