Nic Roeg had a stellar career, working as a cameraman on 60s movies like Masque of the Red Death and more significantly, Lawrence of Arabia.
But it was 1970 when he hit the peak of his career , starting with Performance. Donald Cammell was removed or resigned depending on who you listen to, and Roeg was left to complete that wonderful clash of the old London; shooters and blags as personified by gangster on the run James Fox, and decadent, bohemian London as seen in washed up rock star Turners free love and drugs lifestyle, played by Mick Jagger. It was a new type of film and it was hugely influential.
Roeg followed this tour de force with a string of superlative movies. Set in Venice, Dont Look Now is probably the best known, starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie, it is one of cinemas all time creepy, haunting movies. Trying to escape the misery and mental torture afflicting the married couple after the accidental death of their 7 year old girl, sutherland takes a job restoring a church and takes wife Christie along. but the historical weight of the ancient city soon bears down on them, and a meeting with a super scary clairvoyant elderly sisters makes her beleive her child can be reached in the after life. I defy anyone to tell me the last ten minutes are not some of the most masterful, intense and downright scary sequences you will ever see.
Following this hit, he paired his wife Theresa Russell with another rock star trying his hand at acting, Art Garfunkel, in Bad Timing. Now in Vienna, this is the quintessential Roeg movie. Time shifts and mixed up chronology are beautifully fused with three fabulous lead characters. Garfunkel is a quiet psychologist, Russel is a most modern 70s woman, living for the moment. And Harvey Keitel is great as ever as the detective playing Garfunkel along as he realises what becomes a murder case has missing time in the evidence which questionable sexual activities have been carried out. Russell was never better, and although Art never became a movie star, he is perfect in the role.
There is something about Roeg and the music world as he brings David Bowie's best performance out of him in Man Who Fell To Earth. again, fantastic new techniques add to the sci-fi element of the story of Bowie trying to build a rocket to take him back to his dying family out there in the cosmos. If only the producers had used the Low soundtrack which was created by Bowie and Eno for the film, this would have been an even more incredible end to the first half of the 70s. when you add Walkabout to this fabulous collection of movies, this is a master film maker blazing a trail . If only I had been at the event in 2008 at Riverside studios, when he introduced a programme of his greatest hits, being honoured by the London Film Academy.
