I met Jonathan Owen a couple of years ago when I was working on Cass Pennant’s debut documentary Casuals, he was one of many interviewees who helped tell the story of the Mod and Casual fashion scene.
As many have testified, Jonny is genuinely one of the friendliest guys you’ll ever meet, especially in the entertainment industry, and his winning charm is at the heart of the success of the Svengali project he’s been working on since the very first time. . viral debuted on YouTube in 2009.
The original series of web episodes caught the attention of Mod culture and music fans alike and was hailed by the London Evening Standard as “the best on the internet” at the time. Featuring a handful of cameos from the rock world, including real-life ‘Svengali’ Alan McGee and Carl Barât of The Libertines, it traces the arrival of former Welsh postman Paul ‘Dixie’ Dean in London with high hopes of promoting the raw and loud band The Premature Congratulations to the most popular.
While the five-minute virals mostly focused on Dixie’s naivety and her relationship with Brian Horse (and), now a successful A&R man in Valley, whose contacts include all the major lights of the British music business, the feature film expands his world by turning the spotlight on his fiancee Shell played by the fearsome BAFTA award-winning actress Vicky McClure.
Along with the central romantic plot we finally also get to see The Prems, as well as a glimpse of Dixie’s Welsh roots; Particularly effective is the scene where her father, played by the late Brian Hibbard, tells Dixie that he doesn’t have long to live and they share a poetic moment of pure cinematic gold. I come back to this scene over and over again, not only has it been made more poignant by Hibbard’s own death shortly after the movie was finished, but because I can’t tell if it’s fully written or completely improvised, either way it’s a blast . acting tour-de-force by the two men.
The key that the film manages to reveal in much greater depth is the fundamental difference between Dixie and Horsey who, on paper, could be considered two sides of the same coin. They both come from the same humble beginnings, but one has completely reinvented himself by poking fun at his past, while the other fully embraces it. It’s a shame Roger Evans’s performance as Horsey seems to have been largely ignored by critics, barely mentioned in most of the main reviews I’ve read, he’s the necessary Yin to Dixie’s Yang and understated combination. of shame. the envy and bewilderment it shows on the screen is one of the film’s strong points.
Svengali manages to be both a satire on the music and fashion scene, with the owner of Martin Freeman’s Mod-Elite record store and the outrageously intimidating record label boss Matt Berry providing many of the laughs, but it is also a romantic comedy, a story from poverty to wealth. and a friends movie; This sounds disjointed, but it actually holds up very well. This is no doubt due to Jonny Owen’s central performance as Dixie, in the frame most of the time his warmth, generosity and sincerity ooze from the screen.
In one of the best scenes, an exposed Horsey, who spends all of his time with men who do, vicious media dudes and prostitutes, reflects on what Dixie has that he doesn’t have and while narrowly concentrating on how he’s capable of detecting. musical talent it is evident that the most important thing that Paul Dean has about Brian Horse in his life is love; both family and romantic. Dixie has remained true to himself and where he comes from, so despite stepping away from everything he aspired to, he retains his dignity and passion for life.
Svengali has shown that it is possible to make a quality, low-budget independent film in the UK that does not have to conform to a conventional mold to reach its audience. The film’s journey reflects the spirit of Dixie in every frame and is a testament to all who believed in her and worked to bring her to the big screen throughout the years. I’m very excited to see what Root Films, the joint venture between Jonny Owen and producer Martin Root, does, and I wish them continued success.