Breakfast with Hunter (2003)

Arguably, the best documentary on Hunter S. Thompson made till this point! While you might have had a good time watching recent stuff like "Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson" (2008), "Buy The Ticket, Take The Ride" (2006), "Hunter S. Thompson – His Final Hours" (2006) or even reaching for obscure documentary like "Fear and Loathing in Gonzovision" (1978), produced by BBC – this film by Wayne Ewing is your champion. After all, if you want to have a sneak peek at someone's life, who's better than a neighbour? Ewing was luckily based in Aspen, strictly inside Hunter's crowd and he happened to take part in writer's daily life. He lived near, he appeared when called up and most importantly he was a great documentarist, hanging out with a camera since late 70's and capturing all these moments, that could have been turned into heavy shit afterwards.

„Breakfast with Hunter” is a real gem of personal documentary making, being praised by many Thompson's fans as the one, which managed to get through the mythical wall of smoke. It shares Thompson's life as we were in his room, drinking Chivas Regal, smoking weed and occasionally being victims of his unstoppable temper. This is it, man! We hear Thompson mumbling with his famous Southern accent (a legendary perk actually), getting pissed drunk on scotch, sharping teeth on the brutes and jabbering high whenever one of his romantic visions kicks in. The legend finally appears in flesh and bone. We're not led again through Hunter's wife, son and editor interviews, invited to go public with their judgements and feelings, which used to be tangible, but by that time they got nailed by director, they cooled off and became yesterday's newspaper. We're shaking hands with Hunter here and that's what makes this film a purely valuable experience!



Ewing gets us mostly through late 90's in Hunter's life, departing around the time when our cult persona stood ugly trial for alleged drunken driving in Aspen, sliding through 25th anniversary party for "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" book in New York and Louisville and finally closing in on the premiere of Terry Gilliam's film adaptation starring Johnny Depp. Film's occasional flashes from the past like Hunter's race for sheriff's chair in 1972, help well to fix the narration. We'll never probably witness Hunter closer than we do here... leaving out his unforgettable books and maybe two written biographies. As the most apparent Thompson's kickside comes again Johnny Depp. We may clearly notice here how close they were and how well their spirits resonated. This was yet before Depp became a big Hollywood star, for which we have to point again to "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" (1998) as a turning point for his professional career. After all, I don't think that Johnny Depp would disagree as Hunter's influence on his life is undeniable, cemented later on by financing Hunter's eccentric funeral – writer's ultimate fantasy.

This outstanding footage contains absolutely magical moments like that one, when Hunter is paid a visit by Alex Cox and his script writer – first team assigned to direct "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" – whom he hated enough after two hours of "conference" (this timing is obviously softened on the screen) to throw their coats on and show them out. He despised the animation idea, personally rendered as a cartoon, which I think resembled too much of his nightmare – "Doonesbury". That's when we see "the story" breaking down into single moments, which later glue together and ride on. These events eventually were to bring Terry Gilliam to the picture, who came up with a vision that was to Hunter's liking and became a cult movie. Another one of my favs is Hunter frivolously juggling with an open whisky bottle in a trailer, where the actors usually take a break. He's smashed and spills it all over making Johnny Depp laugh as a child – one of these famous teenager pranks Hunter loved, which became his character's official trade mark – a minor, but perfect insight into his style of doing things.

I doubt you'll find any more personal documentary on Hunter and I'm quite convinced you're gonna dig it if you're Thompson's ardent fan. This film makes me wanna quote few lines from "Kingdom Of Fear" (2003) stating all which Hunter S. Thompson stood for in his life and what eventually added to his depression: The news is bad today, in America and for America. There is nothing good or hopeful about it – except for Nazis, warmongers, and rich greedheads – and it is getting worse and worse in logarithmic progressions since the fateful bombing of the World Trade Towers in New York. that will always be a festering low-watermark in this nation's violent history (…) Fly high, doctor!

[This great documentary can be purchased from Wayne Ewing's website]

The Rum Diary (2011)

It took a bit for Johnny Depp to wrap up and screen this personal tribute to his great friend – Hunter S. Thompson, but it proved to be worth his while. Despite market odds and endless postponement of the premiere, the effect of his actor's and producer's work uncovers a very funny and romantic take on Thompson's novel, widely recognised by fans and critics as his worst book. Speaking of book and movie correlation, I need to stress that coin's flipside is still in Depp's favour as he scored the points by proving a screen adaptation can be far better than a book on which it's based, if you tweak and shape it up a little bit. Certainly, there can be no good film without a good story. Neither the book or the film are genuinely good stories in this case, but if I was to choose one, my money would land on the film! I advise you to check it out even if you didn't like the book, cause it reveals a lively vibe of it's own.

"The Rum Diary" was started by Hunter S. Thompson around 1959 in Puerto Rico to be edited and finished around 1962 in New York, where he went into writing another novel shortly, "Prince Jellyfish", which has never got published as a whole, however it's excerpts have made it to "Songs Of The Doomed" (1991). "The Rum Diary" has been returned to Thompson by every publisher it was sent to at that time – virtually nobody was interested in giving it a go. Eventually, it stayed in the drawer till 1998, when Hunter pulled it out convinced by his agent Douglas Brinkley to do so. He didn't really support the idea initially, but cocaine and booze checks were running high so did the lawyers' fees, hence he couldn't refuse this little extra cash. It got smartly packaged by the publisher as a missing link to gonzo journalism, but this really doesn't matter as Thompson's fans would buy just anything to go through some stuff unpublished before. That's how Hunter basically made it through late 80's and 90's with Gonzo Papers series.



I was one of these victims and didn't really swear after making through it, instead I just put it back on a shelf pondering this peculiar mixture of alcohol extravaganza and sloppy writing. Downbeat style of the book shows clearly a growing depression of a rookie journalist, who found himself on the crossroads with little ideas where to go and how to handle his career. It's as bad as it gets. Hemingway's and Fitzgerald's styles are retraced, crossed and rewritten, but the efect resembles bleak xerocopies of Robert Frank's photos. Thompson's characters are poorly drawn while narration is giddy and dull as a pavement. There's nothing here really to admire, but if it's the only Thompson's book you've read, I guess you need to fill the gap quickly.

"The Rum Diary" is basically an insider's prose. We're being served with daily exploits of bunch of losers, dropouts and winos trying recklessly to lick the last drop from a glass before the curtain drops and everything tumbles down into a black hole. There are no drugs, no acidheads and getting laid is very hard – these themes belong to another land called gonzo, that was years to come at that point. The book is actually so void and boring, that it becomes frustrating in the end! As far as Thompson's oeuvre is concerned, I'd put it in line with "Hey Rube!", another writing disaster but from a different planet. It's definitely something of Hunter's first leap into the world of literature, a writing exercise, like "Junky" was respectively for William S. Burroughs – in fact there are many similiarities. It lacks undoubtedly Hunter's later psychedelic madness, his insightful comment and fascinating, twisted sprint through galaxies of social and political reality. What we get in "The Rum Diary" comes in fact nowhere near "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"... it's just a bummer.



Bruce Robinson's film is loosely based on the novel and I'm deeply convinced it's a good thing in this case. Ross Kemp character (Hunter's literary alter ego played by Johnny Depp) is not as gritty as pictured in the book and the backdrop follows the same logic leaving out the scruffy details. Apart of that, a screenplay brings drugs to the screen – Ross and his buddy Bob get loaded on acid – which kind of reitarates Terry Gilliam's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" scenes and forks out Thompson's countercultural message. The money problems – crucial for the book – are smoothly resolved by Kemp's interaction with Mr. Sanderson and most of the original characters don't get to be developed in a script at all. This lightens up film's narration allowing director to follow the romance plot and show off Kemp's rebellious spirit a bit more. While almost two hours long movie may leave you wasted sometimes, action tools in "The Rum Diary" save the day letting us enjoy the ride smoothly. No real bumps to my eye at least. Acting is fair, getting very good in few particular scenes – cast knows well the shapes and the lines passing either on tragic or on comedy side depending on the context.

While this movie is not gonna crack your head open, it's not gonna bust your balls either. However, this middle shelf quality grows out essentially from Thompson's mediocre story. It's been fixed, but you cannot make fireworks out of a lighter and a wood chip – a small fire is the only possibility. If the story doesn't sparkle, even good acting is not gonna help much as it cannot boil all the elements together by itself. The most important thing is, that Johnny Depp produced a movie he liked and that Hunter would probably enjoy to see as well. By delivering "The Rum Diary" he made an official tribute to one of the greatest writers of the last century, his friend and tutor. By following a possible-to-do line and not trying to shoot the moon by going into production of let's say "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72", he accomplished a fine example of cinematic judgement. This seems great thing to do after all and that's one of the reasons why "The Rum Diary" defends itself firmly. Well done, colonel!

Hunter S. Thompson (1937-2005)

Premiera "The Rum Diary" w Cannes?

Jak wskazują kontrolowane przecieki z prasy, ekranizacja pierwszej książki Huntera S. Thompsona, "The Rum Diary", z Johnnym Deppem w roli głównej, może mieć swoją premierę podczas tegorocznego festiwalu filmowego w Cannes, który odbywać sie będzie w dniach 12-23 maja.

W takim wypadku film trafilby pewnie do kin w USA i UK koło lipca/sierpnia, a w Polsce pojawilby sie w grudniu albo w styczniu.

Jest to jednak na razie tylko pogłoska, chociaz dość prawdopodobna ze względu na tradycyjnie ceniona w Cannes atmosferę, sprzyjająca zawieraniu dużych umów dystrybucyjnych. Pomaga tu oczywiście także gorące przyjęcie filmu przez jury i publiczność - dzieki nagrodom film idzie dalej w świat. Jak sie jednak dobrze sklada, w tym roku członkiem jury będzie min. Tim Burton - dobry przyjaciel Johnny'ego Deppa, co może sie przełożyć na pewny wynik medalowy.

Ostateczna lista filmów, wyświetlanych w Cannes, zostanie ogłoszona przez komitet organizacyjny 4 kwietnia. Do tej pory radzę więc przeczytać sobie książkę, której recenzje znajdziecie także na moim blogu.