Voice Over (1983) Online

"Voice Over" is one of the great lost independent films of the 8o's. And believe me, there weren't many great films in that dull, flat-line decade. The film delves into the mind of a radio DJ in Wales who has gained a cult following through his dramatic readings. His life is slowly unraveling when he discovers a severely beaten woman on the side of a road. He takes her into his flat and cleans and dresses her. A kind of primitive consciousness takes hold of the man and pulls him shaking and stuttering into a deep, murky excursion down the rabbit hole to a place somewhere between Cocteau and Polanski. On a larger scale, the film's main themes are a meditation on the shattering, fragmented remnants of communication in modern society, the inability to find love, and a desperation and loneliness that culminate in a final flailing struggle to justify one's existence in a stark, desolate landscape. The only other closest parallel I can think of to this film is the music of Ian Curtis and Joy Division. "Voice Over" is a sort-of visual equivalent to whatever gray mist Curtis was motoring through, whilst not too far away (roughly at the exact same time) director Christopher Monger was creating his own dark song. The tragedy here is that while Curtis' work eventually found a wider audience, Monger's work remains hidden away, probably buried under some old clothes in the filmmaker's closet.

"Voice Over" was originally shot in 16mm and at the time that accounted for one of the main reasons it was seen by relatively few people. As far as I know, in the States, it only played at the Bleeker Street Cinema in NYC in the 1983 which is where I saw it. Janet Maslin wrote an almost criminally moronic review in the New York Times, which gave away the film's entire plot. While totally concentrating on it's more sensational aspects, Maslin somehow managed to miss the central point of the film as well as glossing over its deeply profound originality. Film critics have no idea the damage they cause by trashing work beyond their limited view. Critics are not artists and many times they simply lack the ability to comment on or appreciate unusual works. I don't remember entirely how it was received in Europe, but I seem to remember a depressed Monger at the time, stating that some sort of controversy dogged it wherever it was presented. This was actually a sign of the films greatness! Sometimes people's first reaction to works of startling invention is to slam the work and wipe it out without seeking to explore the unconscious part of them the work has tapped into. In this case, a great work of art was literally buried. It will perhaps one day be discovered for the treasure it is. I suspect it hasn't dated in all these years and may now be more relevant than ever.

With the advent of DVD there is no excuse for this film to remain unseen. I know hardly anyone will probably read this review, but if by accident any independent DVD distributors stumble on these words looking for a lost gem, seek and ye shall find many rewards within.

As Mr. Matthew Carter says, it's a fine film, and everybody is encouraged to help promoting the re-release of this film.

Bannerman is a successful radio host reading his own romance novellas over the wireless. One day, he encounters a young girl who has been exposed to a major trauma; perhaps she has been ravished. She shows severe signs of post-traumatic stress, is virtually non-communicative and traumatized to the point of outward apathy.

Bannerman's encounter with her stirs many of his emotions; from fatherly consideration to erotic (re-?)awakening. Suddenly he experiences life in its reality, no longer left only to his own devices, and no longer content with the made-up lives of his romance novella characters.

Unfortunately both for the girl he's nursing and for himself, he spirals to the pit of his own damaged soul, initially most notably apparent in his changing the style of his novellas, a change not well received by the public or his employers.

I've been looking for Voice Over since 1983. I've tried to contact Mr. Monger. I've pointed high-quality re-releasing DVD companies to this gem. No success anywhere. Voice Over deserves a better fate. Sorry to say, perhaps, it's Chris Monger's very best film, his latter efforts never nearly as concentrated, haunting and memorable. Whether Voice Over will or will not be re-released, I will live with it for the rest of my life.

I saw this film in 1983 just after it had been made. I saw it at Cardiff Art School which is the same college Chris Monger studied at. It's an atmospheric film shot in 16mm and my memory of it is that it was Chris Monger's first film after leaving college and as such it's a great movie. Unfortunately my memory of the plot is not too good, but I can say that the character of 'Fats' Bannerman played by Ian McNeice has stuck in my memory strongly. Bannerman is a radio host/VO artist and is played really competently. The viewer is drawn into that world of late night broadcasting. He has gone on since Voice Over to play a whole heap of other roles in successful films including Chris Monger's most famous film 'The Englishman Who Went up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain'

This film may be a good one, but it doesn't seem so. It looks more like an effort by a "would be" filmmaker, that wanted, as the accompanying booklet says, to write and make a proper film. Shot in 16mm with bare bone sets and bare bone acting, this film depicts the world of a late night radio show host that tantalizes general public with his 19th century romance novel told in narration over the air waves, night after night, and his tedious job gets a following from young disenchanted people,two of which he meets, and for his efforts gets a beating from. No real point was made of anything in this movie, especially the "relationship" lead character has with his female tormentor, affectionately called "The Bitch". This film is not misogynistic as it was labeled back when it was released, it's more of a pointless study in loneliness and detachment, done with amateurish effort to be Goddard-incomprehensible. Another one of BFI flip-side releases of obscure British films, that were lost for a reason. Christopher Monger's later career proves these words. Interesting to look at as a curio peace, but hardly more than once. It's like a nightmarish version of De Palma's "Blow-Out", shot and released around the same time, done by a student with 8mm camera. Doesn't stand out in any way. Avoid.