An energetic and phenomenal presentation charting the life and career of DJ icon, music producer, and global trip-hop mogul James Lavelle.An energetic and phenomenal presentation charting the life and career of DJ icon, music producer, and global trip-hop mogul James Lavelle.An energetic and phenomenal presentation charting the life and career of DJ icon, music producer, and global trip-hop mogul James Lavelle.
- Awards
- 3 nominations total
Josh Homme
- Self
- (as Joshua Homme)
Robert Del Naja
- Self
- (as Robert del Naja)
Storyline
Featured review
The Man from Mo' Wax is a fascinating depiction of the explosive rise and fall of maverick founder of Mo' Wax Records, James Lavelle. The documentary takes you on a fast paced emotional roller-coaster, through unseen and rare personal footage, of the highs and certainly the lows of the man behind Mo' Wax and UNKLE at odds against a rapidly changing and hostile world. With a surprisingly honest, and at points relatable, human story at its heart; this film is brazen and slick with an absolutely killer soundtrack.
The execution of the documentary is commendable. In the main, the film is skilfully constructed from a treasure trove of unearthed, self-documented footage derived from Lavelle himself and many of his friends and collaborators. The raw footage spanning decades is sophisticatedly intertwined with contemporary and retrospective interviews; additional exposition is smartly incorporated or in keeping with Lavelle's recurrent science-fiction theme. A particularly enjoyable aesthetic choice was the decision to have the cuts between stills dictated to the exceptional soundtrack, it gave the film personality and at times worked well to mirror the chaotic pace of Lavelle, Mo' Wax and indeed the music industry.
Following Lavelle's prosperous and naive beginnings, you really get sense of the scale of what Lavelle was achieving and at such young age. However, director Mathew Jones spends surprisingly little time on Lavelle's time at the top and focuses predominantly on the encroaching cracks appearing in several of Lavelle's relationships and his worsening position within a difficult and changing industry. Lavelle has the rug pulled from under him and refuses to move on from it, burning through years, relationships and gargantuan amounts of money trying to recreate it; but does he ultimately learn from it? The comment that is never really answered to, made by producer Antony Genn, that unmovably sticks in the mind is, "you don't have to be Sigmund Freud to work out that it might be you (Lavelle) that is the problem". It doesn't really come across that Lavelle has learnt or changed from his experience but has just simply moved on to his next opportunity and endeavour, tempting history to repeat itself.
The Man from Mo' Wax is an extremely engaging and polished documentary around a truly fascinating and driven visionary, working decades ahead of his time. It features an exemplary soundtrack and would be a sure-fire hit for any Mo' Wax or UNKLE purist. Regardless, the documentary does well to work with limited knowledge of the subject and remains engrossing throughout. When all is said and done and you strip it down to its bare bones, the film is ultimately a really relatable human story of ingenuity and perseverance.
The execution of the documentary is commendable. In the main, the film is skilfully constructed from a treasure trove of unearthed, self-documented footage derived from Lavelle himself and many of his friends and collaborators. The raw footage spanning decades is sophisticatedly intertwined with contemporary and retrospective interviews; additional exposition is smartly incorporated or in keeping with Lavelle's recurrent science-fiction theme. A particularly enjoyable aesthetic choice was the decision to have the cuts between stills dictated to the exceptional soundtrack, it gave the film personality and at times worked well to mirror the chaotic pace of Lavelle, Mo' Wax and indeed the music industry.
Following Lavelle's prosperous and naive beginnings, you really get sense of the scale of what Lavelle was achieving and at such young age. However, director Mathew Jones spends surprisingly little time on Lavelle's time at the top and focuses predominantly on the encroaching cracks appearing in several of Lavelle's relationships and his worsening position within a difficult and changing industry. Lavelle has the rug pulled from under him and refuses to move on from it, burning through years, relationships and gargantuan amounts of money trying to recreate it; but does he ultimately learn from it? The comment that is never really answered to, made by producer Antony Genn, that unmovably sticks in the mind is, "you don't have to be Sigmund Freud to work out that it might be you (Lavelle) that is the problem". It doesn't really come across that Lavelle has learnt or changed from his experience but has just simply moved on to his next opportunity and endeavour, tempting history to repeat itself.
The Man from Mo' Wax is an extremely engaging and polished documentary around a truly fascinating and driven visionary, working decades ahead of his time. It features an exemplary soundtrack and would be a sure-fire hit for any Mo' Wax or UNKLE purist. Regardless, the documentary does well to work with limited knowledge of the subject and remains engrossing throughout. When all is said and done and you strip it down to its bare bones, the film is ultimately a really relatable human story of ingenuity and perseverance.
- jameselwin
- Nov 30, 2019
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Koles z Mo'Wax
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $25,502
- Runtime1 hour 56 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 16:9 HD
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