Heads-up: 'Performance' with Mick Jagger now on Blu-ray
Whitney Matheson, USA TODAY

Despite Mick Jagger's mega-successful 50-year career, his acting resume remains surprisingly short. Perhaps that's because he never found a role as captivating and bizarre as his first one in 1970's Performance — or maybe that film scared Hollywood so much that he's still paying the price.

Filmed in 1968, Performance was one of the most twisted, unsettling and drug-fueled movies to be released by a major studio in the '70s, and I'd say it still ranks up there today. Directed by Donald Cammell and Nicholas Roeg, it stars a young and delightfully androgynous Jagger as a former rock star whose vice-filled existence is complicated by the arrival of a mysterious and dangerous stranger (played by James Fox).

Co-starring in the flick are 16-year-old French teen Michele Breton and Keith Richards' longtime love, Anita Pallenberg. The stories about the making of the film are about as convoluted as the plot; understandably, Richards was unhappy with his girlfriend appearing in graphic sexual scenes alongside the singer in his band.

Cammell brought many of his personal obsessions to the screen, the biggest being his love of writer Jorge Luis Borges. It takes a few viewings to realize there may indeed be a method behind Cammell's trippy madness, with art and literary references scattered amidst the hazy drama.

Performance finally landed on DVD a few years ago, and this week the Warner Archive has made it available on Blu-ray. Though of course I'd love to see a deluxe and uncut version packed with extras — how great would it be to hear Jagger's commentary? — I suppose I should be grateful it's being issued at all.

Back when Performance was made, the studio panicked and shelved it for a couple years. Clearly, execs were hoping for a lighthearted hit aimed at the teen set (like A Hard Day's Night, an Elvis romp or even Head). What they got was a dark, violent and libidinous spiral into madness.

But hey, spirals into madness can result in big audiences, too, though they may take several years to form. Performance's strange beauty and experimentation, not to mention that rare star turn by Jagger, helped turn it into a cult hit.

Get your hands on Performance if you haven't already. Love it or hate it, you'll certainly feel something by the end.

[www.usatoday.com]

"Here's to Old England!"

They've supposedly corrected the audio from the prior DVD release (which omitted the line I quoted above for no apparent reason).

Was just watching this movie for the second time today and noticed that the first scene where you see Mick's face he is painting the red wall black. PAINTing IT BLACK. I feel as though it's one of those films that reveals something new every time you watch it. Maybe once I've watched it 10 times I'll begin to understand its full metaphorical implications...the many similarities between Chas and King Pentheus of Euripides' The Bacchae (which I read for my Greek Drama course last semester) are currently coming to mind.

Though of course I'd love to see a deluxe and uncut version packed with extras — Yeah it deserves a Deeeeluxe release ... Classic piece of British film



ROCKMAN