//GORILLAZ BIOGRAPHY//

'Charts Of Darkness' - Documentary

A self-written (Matt Wakeham of Zombie Flesh Eaters and Cass Browne) documentary about the Gorillaz was shown on Channel 4 in the UK in November 2001 and later in Europe and the US. The documentary was also included on the Gorillaz first DVD, 'Celebrity Take Down'.

The documentary is a model of (intentional) confusion, cross-referencing different levels of reality with glee. As the writers have Damon say in the program, "I find the delivery of misinformation to as valid as the delivery of information". Fans who expected a full expose of the Gorillaz project stood to be disappointed; even those who weren't hoping for that were lead to that expectation by the beginning of the film. Leaving aside the lengthy intercut sections of the promo videos and Gorilla Bites, the documentary runs as follows. It starts off with an introduction from a well-known (in the UK) investigative journalist who announces that he is going to get to the heart of the Gorillaz phenomenon. So far, so straight (and bear in mind the writing credits only come up at the end, so it is impossible to tell at first if it is a genuine investigation). The reporter interviews a magazine editor who did a piece on Gorillaz, the Parlophone executive who signed the band, the webmasters of the Gorillaz official site and animators from Passion Pictures who tell part of the truth but give the impression that Damon and Jamie are mad. Then comes an interview with what we are told is policeman who arrested Damon and Jamie, but is in fact the actor Phil Cornwell (the voice of Murdoc). He tells the reporter that he thinks Damon and Jamie are mad, and think the characters are real, and shows a videotape of them beating each other up in custody, after seeing in a police interview that it was the characters that did it. We are then told that Damon and Jamie have been given a psychological examination (and we seen a film of this, with Phil Cornwell playing the psychologist). We see them in a mental institution saying that they think the Gorillaz characters are real. Finally we are told they have been let out of the institution and want to talk with the journalist. They finally give what seems like a straight interview about the project and how they want to take a back seat because they don't want to be overly associated with the project. Aside from the few snippets of information about the magazine interview, the record company executive and passion pictures the 'documentary' is actually a work of fiction and not very informative, albeit an entertaining one. As such it takes its place as part of the Gorillaz project itself and not as a commentary on it.



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