Funded by trendy mag publishers Vice Films, Dominic Murphy’s feature debut is based on the true story of hard-living, Appalachian tap dance legend Jesco White.
We first encounter Jesco (played by British actor Edward Hogg) as a vomit-soaked 10-year-old clutching a can of lighter fluid. Thus begins a psychedelic, sepia-toned horror show, touring the dark corners of his mind and those of the white trash world in which he lives.
It’s a grubby, hillbilly take on Walk The Line, punctuated by moments of nightmarish violence which put even Johnny Cash’s tribulations to shame. The love of a good woman can’t save the troubled entertainer – even though his missus is Princess Leia (aka Carrie Fisher) – and nor does he seem particularly attached to his art.
So that just leaves religion… Jesco’s final redemption is such a jaw-dropping perversion of rock biopic clichés (not to mention Christianity) that it’s a wonder to behold.
