Tanya Batson-Savage, Freelance Writer
Stella oozes allure in 'Goathead'. - CONTRIBUTED
The romantic comedy Goathead, written and directed by Paul Bucknor, was the first feature film shown at the Flash Point Film and Music Festival in Negril last weekend. The film had its world premiere on Saturday night, although it had been shot three years ago.
Goathead features almost every known and would-be actor on the island. With the likes of Mark Danvers, Leonie Forbes, Karen Harriott, Dorothy Cunningham, Christopher Daley, Winston Rowe, Chris McFarlane, Jerry Benzwick, Charles Hyatt and Oliver Samuels in the film, it has nothing short in the acting department.
The film also features Marsha-Anne Haye, Sheryka Dare, Regina Beavers, Farenheit, Kai Wakeling and Jermaine Thompson.
ENTERTAINING FILM
The male performances were generally stronger than the female performances, with Harriott and Forbes being exceptions.
Danvers plays the lead character, Randy, which doubles as not only a name but describes his nature as well. While dreaming of being an artist and earning his living as a goat thief, Randy is intent on being the village ram.
The performances helped to create an entertaining film, with Rowe and Daley in particular combining to bring much humour. However, the script had several problems. Chief among them is that Randy makes a problematic romantic hero.
While Danvers looks and acts charming, his character is too unfaithful for romance.
Throughout the film, he juggles two women and never shows any real remorse for cheating or gives any indication that he will change, which is unacceptable.
The script's problems went even deeper. While the dialogue remained generally engaging, there are areas of the story which simply did not tie. Pieces of the plot were forgotten or made such rare appearances that they were easily forgotten.
In the question and answer segment following the film, Bucknor explained that the wide array of actors was used to see the potential for film-making.
Interestingly, Jamaica's film history, despite being very slender, is far from emaciated and so no such experiment was needed. Even so, the expanded cast may well partly explain why the script went haywire in the attempt to fit everyone in. Its centre simply could not hold.
NO DEPTH OF FEELING
This was further complicated by the fact that the movie has no depth of feeling. This is despite the serious dilemma in which the hero finds himself.
The question "what a artist a do a country?" comes up during the film and the reply "tief goat" quickly comes. Hilarity aside, this should have been the focus of the film to give it cohesion, as Randy tries to balance both worlds.
Furthermore, despite the general strength of the cast, there were problems in casting and costuming. The film is set in the rural countryside and that looks authentic enough.
However, most of the minor characters appear to be persons moved from 'uptown' Jamaica to take a holiday in the country.
They clearly did not match their setting. Make-up was also problematic, as it gave most of the females a red hue.
When this is added to the other issues of lighting and continuity, Goathead is problematic as a test for the Jamaican film industry potential. Fortunately, we have done better.
