Stoned

Synopsis: The last weeks in the life of Brian Jones, who died under mysterious circumstances in his own swimming pool at age 27.

Brian Jones was a tragic figure, the founding father of the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world and the first famous casualty of the spiralling out of control drug-drenched '60s. He may have been an pop icon however he was no hero but rather a weak, self-indulgent, unrealistic and finally sad individual unable to cope with fame and fortune. Stephen Woolley's film makes this clear. He also makes it clear that unlike the common belief, Brian did not die by booze fuelled and drug addled misadventure in his swimming pool at his Sussex estate, Cotchford Farm, the picturesque property formerly owned by "Winnie the Pooh" author A.A. Milne.but was murdered by his erstwhile builder, Frank Thorogood. A remarkable claim one might think but according to the film's end titles, one sanctioned by Thorogood's 1993 deathbed confession.

The strength of Woolley's film is in showing Cotchford Farm as a microcosm of the changing face of England in the late 1960s, a focal point of the war between the old and new orders. As far as bringing the times to life however, Stoned is at best a diligent affair.

Whilst recreating one of the most-documented times of one of the most documented of rock bands is by no means an enviable project, beyond a factual re-construction of the known events and putting his cast in Carnaby Street togs, Woolley, an experienced producer but a first-time director, fails to create an all-important sense of atmosphere which over-and-above these events would have made his film appealing, particularly to Stones fans. The performances by heavily-wigged actors who bear only a passing resemblance to Jones, Richards and Jagger are never particularly convincing (the best performances are from Paddy Considine as Thorogood and David Morrissey as Tom Keylock, Jones's minder) whilst the soundtrack features a mish-mash of songs which either are not by the Stones or are versions of Stones' songs by later performers like The White Stripes. Although clearly Woolley's hands were tied here, given that the music is as important as the script this is a significant omission, highlighted by the fact that scenes of Jones and Richards learning their chops from Robert Johnson records are some of the few moments in the film that really work in this respect.

Beyond the Rolling Stones aspect of the story, Stoned is concerned with the symbiotic relationship between Jones and Thorogood. This part of the film is more effective albeit nowhere as close to the spirit of the tines as the Donald Cammell/ Nicolas Roeg 1970 classic, Performance, which it recalls (Woolley's Kenneth Anger style pastiche of sado-masochistic debauchery being a clear case in point). Thorogood is shown as an essentially good-natured and relatively innocent individual who gets drawn into the vortex of Jones's decadence and eventually lashes out at his tormentor. In so doing, the film's supernatural coda suggests that he managed to make legendary what might otherwise have been an ignominious demise.

 

 

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