Rage

Sally Potter is in experimental mood for this awkward series of monologues which together add up to a damp murder mystery and a fond, if wildly off-target, parody of the fashion world. The form is interesting, at least on paper: an unseen, unheard youngster, Michelangelo, films a series of video interviews for his blog backstage at a show by fictional New York fashion darling Merlin (Simon Abkarian) but inadvertently turns witness and confessional foil when someone starts offing the models (a humanitarian mission, maybe?). The faces come think and fast: Jude Law as a trannie, Judi Dench as a sour critic, Steve Buscemi as a cop, Lily Cole as a model. But the flaws are endless. The idea that people are dying and these twits continue to talk is nonsense, especially when their interviews are appearing on the net. Most infuriatingly, for a formal experiment, it refuses to stick to any rules, making it a floppy, spineless affair. Even the lurid backdrop colours attack the nerves.