Thias is an oddity of a film, one that meanders aimlessly into the realms of sci-fi and horror, following a dazed ageing rocker type Johnny Calvi (EastEnders actor John Altman) navigating through central London in what is supposed to be his last day on earth. Musician-turned-filmmaker Mark Christopher Lee’s preoccupation with the paranormal comes into full force as he attempts to visually realise years of research into grail legends. The filmmaker made national headlines recently with his proclamations of tracing the actual Holy Grail, hiding in undisclosed location of the satellite city of St Albans.
The movie is shot in a factual documentary style and completely devoid of dialogue, with a recurring insertion of ’80s computer graphics and a soundtrack of bleeps and ethereal piano riffs. The camera chronicles Johnny’s visits to arcane London landmarks for what we can guess is in search of the Holy Grail. Much time is spent in the French Catholic church off Leicester Square, purchasing a tarot pack from esoteric bookshop Watkins, or banging at the doors of a masonic church in the City district. A bottle of wine is a permanently by his side, lushly sipping away in broad day.
You are made to question what you are seeing, not just for the randomness and peculiarity of the rudderless travel the unfolds before us, guided by a truly silent and unremarkable protagonist – Nicholas Cage’s mute turn in comedy horror Willy Wonderland (Kevin Lewis, 2021) comes to mind. There are constant interjections of a makeshift control room where Johny’s unconscious body is hooked to a laptop manned by an androgynous teenager. It alludes to a virtual game controlled by a secretive society called The Pruiry of Sin. Perhaps Johnny’s traverses are a mere simulation.
There are direct, if again arbitrary and loosely correlated, pop culture references. This includes the pseudo-historical cult best-seller Holy Blood, Holy Grail – Johnny literally holds the book up to the camera. Or the menacing little child in a red raincoat running around the suburban woods – Johnny’s last stop in his hunt- is straight out of Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now (1973).
The vibe here is very low-fi, a sort of ’80s home video quality. There is childish ambience, Johnny is a figure straight out of Roald Dahl story. Inchoate ideas, executed on the spot without any groundwork, evoking experimental filmmaking. It is, however, never clear whether Christopher Lee set out to make an experimental, lr whether the plot is just incoherent In its current form, this feels like a draft of a potential film, one in need of further refinement.
The Last Grail Hunter just saw its world premiere at the 33rd edition of Raindance, which takes place between June 18th and 27th.
