White Lightnin'

Horrorphile

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White Lightnin'

June 22nd 2010 04:13

"Thars tha Devil a-runnin’ thru mah blood …,” squeals Jesco White (Edward Hogg), the Dancin’ Outlaw, from deep in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia, a dark-hearted country where the whiff of moonshine is almost as strong as the stench of raccoon shit. Young Jesse was a huffer since he was pint-sized high, “high” bein’ the operative word. Sniffin’ turpentine and gasoline fumes to escape the drudgery of growin’ up amongst pig shit and filthy laundry, and the scat'n'scuffle rat-a-tat-tat of his daddy-o, D.Ray (Muse Watson), mountain dancin’ his blues away, Jesse swerved back and forth between reform school and the local mad house.

Edward Hogg as Jesco White

After each release (and before each re-admission) Jesse would be spendin’ every second hour of the day workin’ a stinky sweat buck dancin’ - a frenzied amalgam of tap and folk dancin’ - to the twang of a wild banjo. His papa, the mountain dancin’ master, eventually enforced his son into practicin’ the percussive foot rhythms to keep him outta trouble. But Jesco’s childhood and adult life was plagued with disaster, and fate slapped him hard. He inherited his father’s dancin’ shoes and hauled the steel-soled cloggin’ on the road with his faithful guitarist Vernon (Steve Nicolson).

Jesco's daddy D.Ray (Muse Watson) dancin' up a storm

Owen Campbell as young Jesse

Jesco met Norma Jean, whom he nicknamed Cilla, whilst hitchin’, a hillbilly woman twice Jesse’s age and half his height, with a passion for drinkin’ and shaggin’. But Jesse’s evil thoughts were only ever a hoofbeat away, and jealousy was a green and nasty beast wrigglin' inside. Vengeance for his daddy’s death was gnawin’ away inside a-him, somethin’ the sweet Lord could not taketh away. So Jesco struck like the white lightnin’ that surged through his thin, wiry frame, and he suffered the wrath of the Devil’s intent; martyrdom beckonin' like foul-smellin' ghosts from the darkest forest hideaway.

Bullies bear the brunt of young Jesse's blade

Loosely based, like a drunken noose, on the real life of legendary Jesco White, whose dysfunctional family and haphazard career was documented in the early 90s film The Dancing Outlaw (made by US Public Broadcasting Service), scripted by the founders of the cult Vice magazine, Eddy Moretti and Shane Smith, and directed by UK commercials director Dominic Murphy, White Lightnin’ (2009) is a blistering tornado of a biopic with a tour-de-force performance form up-and-coming Ed Hogg. He’s in almost every scene (apart from equally mesmerizing Owen Campbell portraying his wasted youth), and he commands like an over-proof bourbon. Carrie Fisher (where’s she been?) plays Cilla, while Kirk Bovill makes a memorably grotesque redneck called Long.

White Lightnin' Ed Hogg and Steve Nicolson

Jesco and Vernon (Steve Nicolson) on the roadhouse circuit

Carrie Fisher as Cilla

Shot in desaturated colour on location in West Virginia and Croatia (with a mostly Croatian crew), doubling as small-town white trash America, the washed out cinematography and prowling camerawork captures the grimy essence of Jesco’s psyche and his surrounding realm perfectly. This is a movie about passion, dedication, and insanity, and eventually religious depravity. It’s like David Lynch had been hidin' out with the wolves and swiggin’ moonshine all night long, and then stumbled onto set with a shotgun slung over his shoulder, fishin’ into a tobacco pouch for inspiration. Has there been a movie of this calibre in recent years that takes fewer prisoners?!

Jesco doesn't take to kindly to those hittin' on his woman

The demons of Jesco White’s life howl and screech like the thunder and dark clouds that tear across the West Virginian sky. Just how much of White Lightnin’ is accurate to the real man’s life is questionable, but the movie excels at being a tortured, nightmarish study of desperation and violence that echoes in the mind, and lingers on the breath like thick Black Moose Ale. As is often the case, it takes outsiders to tap into the dark heart with such ferocious character. White Lightin’ would make for a fine double whammy with Jim Jarmusch’s mutant Western Dead Man (1995). Essential viewing for tremblin’ addicts, roadhouse hellraisers, and guzzlin' foot stompers.

To get to Heaven one must pass through Hell

Here's the trailer:

White Lightnin' DVD is courtesy of Madman Entertainment, many thanks!

Select stills © UK Film Council / Mountain Productions Limited 2008

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

8 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by David O'Connell

June 22nd 2010 06:53

20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic

Brilliant stuff Bryn, you really found the voice for this one!!

Sounds magnificently dark and disturbing. Sign me up!

Comment by Matt Shea

June 22nd 2010 07:10

the whiff of moonshine is almost as strong as the stench of raccoon shit.

Ha! Golden stuff indeed, Bryn. This sounds spectacular - if the guys from Vice had a hand in it it's sure to be reasonably off-the-wall. Lining this one up as soon as I get the chance.

Comment by JohnDoe

June 24th 2010 18:46

Film & TV on DVD

Awesome verbiage in this review Bryn...makes me want to see it ASAP.

Comment by ShaunK

June 28th 2010 01:42

Screen Adventure

Essential viewing for tremblin’ addicts, roadhouse hellraisers, and guzzlin' foot stompers.

Awesome - where has this been released - is it on DVD, or what?

Comment by ShaunK

June 28th 2010 01:44

Screen Adventure

Also, Bryn, have you ever seen a film called 'Tin Can Man'? It's an Irish film from 2007

Comment by Bryn

June 28th 2010 03:23

Horrorphile

Shaun, yeah, movie is out on DVD through Madman and Vice magazine.
Haven't seen Tin Can Man. I'll check it out.

Comment by Anonymous

August 5th 2010 12:43

the dvd has been released butis only available in region 2 PAL format, used in the UK. most US dvd players will not play the disc.

Comment by Bryn

August 6th 2010 02:11

Horrorphile

Anon, there is a Region 4 release, which is the version I have (released through Madman), but you'll need a multi-zone player to play it if you live in the States. So depends which is cheaper, ordering from the UK or ordering from Australia.

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[ Next - FRANKENSTEIN (1910) MOVIE and RUMAH DARA TRAILER ]