User Reviews

THE WINGNUT TAPES is a short that was co-written by and stars Steve Oram who also composes the music and it's the track Faded Hand that will be your abiding memory of this short . It's very similar to Visage / Gary Numan musically and Kraftwerk lyrically :

Looking in the mirror see the German now He is tall with computer glow Walking thru the concrete underpass He's silent like a machine It's the faded hand

It's a really good track that I would have rushed out to buy - in 1979-84 but the story is set in 2003 and you can guess the protagonists are well behind the times

Directed by Ben Gregor this is a mockumentary similar to THE OFFICE , SPINAL TAP and LAST CHILD OF THE SIXTIES that follows electro pop duo Wingnut as they try to shoot a video to Faded Hand , but there's something lacking . Maybe it's because both Steve Oram and co- star Tom Meeten lack the comic timing to make this an undisputed success or perhaps it's because their script isn't sharp on incisive enough to make me laugh out loud but I will certainly buy Faded Hand if it's ever released for real

The musical group "The Wingnuts" have roped in mate John to help them film a video to promote their song. However John doesn't know how to use the camera so every time he thinks he has pushed "record" he has really stopped the tape and when he thinks he has stopped it, he is really recording. This means we don't see the video itself but the messy bits in between.

There are plenty of stronger rockumentaries around, so the "stop/start" gimmick of this film makes it at least stick in the mind. This is not to say it is hilarious because it isn't but it is amusing enough to do the job. The "candid" nature of the film means that it isn't structured that well and doesn't give scope for strong material, even if it does all come across as natural. I laughed once or twice but not to the point where I would bother to watch it again. Cheeky and amusing then but nothing that special and not a film that will threaten many other movies for the title of "best mockumentary".