Performance (1970), directed by Donald Camell and Nicholas Roeg, follows a violent London gangster on the run as he takes refuge at the Bohemian home of a retired rock star, played by Mick Jagger. The film unflinchingly explores themes of identity and sexuality against a backdrop of grimy 70s London. At the time of its initial release this sparked huge levels of controversy, but the film has since found cult status as one of the first classic British gangster movies.
The film has been selected by John Scarlett-Davis. John is an artist, director, writer and editor who was part of the political video-collage ‘Scratch Video’ movement of the early 1980s. He and his husband, fellow artist Volker Stox, live in West Penwith. You can read his introduction here.