FOR NO GOOD REASON (2014) – The Review

Although the year’s not quite half done, now comes the release of the fourth theatrical documentary concerning an artist. We started off 2014 with the engaging mystery, explorational doc TIM’S VERMEER. Then there was another mystery doc FINDING VIVIAN MIEIER all about an artist (whose main profession was nanny/caregiver) using cameras instead of canvas to create exceptional works. And just a few weeks ago we got the very entertaining JODOROWSKY’S DUNE which not only profiled the celebrated director but delved into the lives and art of his collaborators Charles Voss, the late Jean (Moebius) Giraud, and the recently departed HR Giger. Now comes FOR NO GOOD REASON, looking at the journey of British-born illustrator/cartoonist Ralph Steadman, a fascinating articulate man who continues to try to change the world through his work. And the artists and writers that have shared his journey are just as fascinating as the film’s subject.

The film begins as actor (and the film’s narrator) Johnny Depp pays a visit to the estate of the seventy-something Steadman. They stroll into the artist’s workshop/cottage as Depp immediately starts thumbing through prints and book collections of the artist’s work. Not content to merely dwell on past triumphs, Steadman heads to the drafting table to whip up a new piece, delighting the dazzled thespian. We’re then treated to a bit of backstory as we view the newspaper and magazine political cartoons that helped gain Steadman much notoriety in his native London back in the swingin’ sixties. But America beckoned and soon he was using a camera along with his pencil and pen to capture the seedier side of the big apple. Shortly after some alternative “underground” media work, the fates (using a magazine editor) sent the mild-mannered Brit to meet the man who would be his most famous collaborator, the father of “gonzo” journalism Hunter S. Thompson. The film makes great use of home move footage along with archival interviews with the late writer (this film makes the third Thompson feature project that has involved Depp). There’s also engaging interviews with other cohorts like Terry Gilliam (who directed the film of FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS), Rolling Stone magazine guru Jann Wenner, and actor Richard E. Grant (after working on the film WHITHNAIL & I, Grant became the subject of several Steadman works).

Film maker Charlie Paul doesn’t give us an in-depth look at Steadman’s personal life. His stiff British upbringing is fairly glossed over as is his marriage. Instead the focus in on his still, very much, ongoing art career. Early on we see the glimmer of child-like delight in the greying artist as he slaps a glob of paint on to blank board. He’s not got a plan, only a curiosity to see where his random brush strokes take him. The distributors are selling Depp in the film, but besides the narration he’s basically a happy fan mostling emitting an “ooo” and “ahhh” every few seconds. Both men share a great love of the late Thompson who hovers like a ghost over most of the movie’s run time. He and Steadman make for a classic odd couple in the grainy-old footage. Although both share a mutual exasperation with the other, there’s still that admiration for their talents. But Steadman did move on as we see him donning a ridiculous wig for his study of DaVinci for the 1983 book “I, Leonardo”. And there’s the project that teamed him with an another irascible author William S. Burroughs. To great effect, Paul uses some state of the art computer animation wizardry to bring Steadman’s monsters and mutants to enchanting life. But the most engaging scenes are those of the man at work, wheteher he’s using a blow-pipe to spray color on paper or manipulating a Polaroid Instant-snapshot while it develops to twist and mold faces (we even get a vintage TV ad of Sir Lawrence Oliver hawking the camera). And there’s the artist/activist side of him as he donates his time and work to anti-war causes (like many other political artists, he delighted in skewering Richard Nixon). As the film wraps up Paul catches Steadman in a reflective, melancholy mood as he expresses his fear that his work has no influence and will soon be forgotten. Far from it, the enthralling, entertaining FOR NO GOOD REASON cements and celebrates Ralph Steadman’s position as one of the greatest artists of our times. I hope he’ll be battling the bad guys with his brush and paint well into the future.

4 Out of 5

FOR NO GOOD REASON opens everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac cinemas