THE BLUE BLACK HUSSAR

(director: Jack Bond; editors: Joanna Apps/Gabriela Miranda Rodriguez; cast: Charlotte Rampling, Adam Ant,; Runtime: 98; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Mary-Rose Storey/Jack Bond; Sunrise Pictures; 2013-UK)

“The music is still electric.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Jack Bond(“Anti-Clock”/”Separation”/”Dali in New York”) directs a less than scintillating documentary on Brit rock icon Adam Ant, whose heyday was in the London of the 1980s. He suffered a nervous breakdown and subsequently lost his career, as he was sectioned in 2003 under the Mental Health Act.

In this plotless film, Bond follows Ant around cinéma vérité style as he tries a comeback by playing small venues to help promote his sixth studio album. He’s charming when showing off his memorabilia shopping spree in Paris. Encounters with famous friends like Mark Ronson, Charlotte Rampling and the artist Allen Jones, give the pop rock star prestige. Bond eschews the old Ant songs and concentrates on the new material. The title is lifted from Ant’s new persona, the Blueblack Hussar. The music is still electric.

Film includes concert footage and intensive interviews with Ant. This sad, absurd and provocative film is happy to let us know that Ant is back from his hell. But it adds no depth to the icon’s situation.

REVIEWED ON 3/24/2016 GRADE: B-   https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/