LOVE LIVE LONG/HEART RACING

Ask Mike Figgis to make a movie about the (in)famous Gumball Rally? Which way will he go? Comedy as in the 1976 film? Not likely. Instead what you get is sex, death and a lot to think about.

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The rally itself is unvarying: a bunch of rich playboys in designer sports cars chasing each other and misbehaving across the continents.

Well, unvarying except that recently there have been attempts to improve its image.

And then last year its image was fundamentally damaged when two Brits were involved in a fatal crash with two locals.

Now comes Figgis’s take on the scene and, speaking of rallies, Figgis’s schedule seems to have resembled one.

He set out to make the film in Istanbul with only a a one page treatment, about the effect the rally has on people rather than the rally itself.

Casting – the two leads - took place only just before the shoot began and the whole thing was wrapped by a crew of four in just seven days, despite a few problems like a million person march strolling onto the set (Figgis wrote a scene to take advantage of that) and moved another scene from Berlin due to the rally’s own problems.

Did any of this phase Figgis's "co-driver" on this project, producer Patrick Fischer? Of course not. Well, maybe a little. He says, mixing a few metaphors: "It was a rollercoaster ride shooting a feature in such a short time in three different countries in the midst of one of the world's greatest supercar rallies."

But, adds Fischer, catching his breath and adjusting his producer's cap, "It certainly tested and proved the capabilities and boundaries of digital technology."

As happens on such shoots, the speed and chaos often helped rather than hindered. So the leads and Figgis’s camera were able to blend in with actual Gumball characters and events unnoticed.

So we have one of the playboys, Australian Darren (Daniel Lapaine), is in Istanbul for a night of fun when he meets a beautiful English girl, Rachel (Sophie Winkleman), in town contemplating suicide.

These two were never likely to be a good mix, and so it proves. Darren invites her to join in the party scene, enjoys a night of perverse rumpty pumpty with her and flees to the next stage of the Rally, Bratislavia.

Enough to drive any girl to depression except this unhappy girl decides she is in love and pursues footloose Darren with dangerous consequences.

When can you see this edgy montage of fast cars, fast sex and slow heartbreak? A date may be set within a few days as Love Live Long were be making a splash at the Cannes Film Festival to arrange cinema slots.

The man in charge down there is Frank Mannion, of Swipe Films, and he sound confidence): "This is classic Mike Figgis territory and his fans won't be disappointed by the voyeurism of this film. Films such as Michael Winterbottom's 9 Songs show that independent films can break out of the market in Cannes. I think Love Live Long will certainly live long in the memory for those who view it there."

Fingers crossed.

Photo above Rex Features.

Posted May 7, 2008.