The films making the most impact at the EIFF this year have been documentaries. Standing out among them is this story, which definitely falls into the category of so strange it must be true’. Artist and filmmaker Jeannie Finlay uses traditional documentary techniques and mixes in some animation to tell the story of two Scottish chancers who, ten years ago, managed to con the British music industry and prove what a shallow joke it’s become.
Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd (not the Hobbity one) were two talented college mates from Dundee who fancied themselves as the next big thing in rap. With Scotland not being famed for its hip hop scene, they travelled to London for an open audition only to find themselves literally laughed out of the room by the record execs who cruelly compared them to a rapping version of The Proclaimers. Just for the record, I would pay good money to see a rapping version of The Proclaimers.
Furious and disillusioned, the pair attended their next audition in the guise of their American alter-egos Silibil n’ Brains, complete with (what sounded to me as not very convincing) Californian accents and obnoxious. Jackass-style personalities. They played the same songs, with the same lyrics but suddenly they were in huge demand, snapped up by Sony UK and given more money then they’d ever dreamed of. What had started out as a joke became very real as the duo started to worry that if they now came clean they’d be charged with fraud, or at least have to give the money back, and they were keeping the deception going and literally live a lie despite the protests of family, friends and partners.
Although it doesn’t feel particularly cinematic and would be more at home on the small screen, it’s a gripping and funny story that has all the tropes of a music biopic the rags to riches journey, drug abuse and the inevitable fall from the top and breakup of the band. Except of course you know it isn’t the product of a Hollywood screenwriter’s exaggerating imagination, it’s all real. But then it’s not actually real as it’s happening to two fictitious characters, but the toll the lie takes on the pair playing them is very real. What starts off as a light-hearted underdog story takes a dark turn as the pair tell of fights, alcoholism and even suicide attempts.
As with all documentaries, you do wonder how much is fact and how much has been edited to present a satisfying narrative. Certainly, the interviews with the rappers and those that know them paint Boyd as a good natured family man who’s just having a laugh and wants out when it gets serious and Bain as the obsessive liar who’s happy to forget who he is and where he comes from if it gets him fame and fortune. Clearly, there’s some truth to this but you do get the sense that Finlay needed her story to have a hero and a villain and so choose to present them in this way.
Of course, the real villains of the story are the record company executives and, surprisingly, some of them are happy to appear and tell how they were completely duped. None of them seem to have learned the error of their superficial ways though and seem pretty blasé about the fact that they wouldn’t have hired Silibil n’ Brains if they’d known they were Scottish. I think it’s pretty likely that with it being released at these uncertain times for Scotland’s future the film will be latched onto as an example of Scottish ingenuity and ability to overcome the odds, even if it is in a completely dishonest and underhanded way.
Overall Verdict: A crazy story told in an entertaining and unique way.
Reviewer: Adam Pidgeon