Viena and the Fantomes

source: Viena and the Fantomes

In downbeat rock drama "Viena And The Fantomes" Dakota Fanning joins a rag-tag crew of roadies / assistants (inc Frank Dillane (Deppesque) & Evan Rachel Wood) supporting a mid-rate new-age punk band (inc Jeremy Allen White, Caleb Landry Jones & Zoë Kravitz) while on the road on tour. Amid tawdry sex, drugs & rock 'n' roll Fanning's torn between Dillane & Allen White as the darker, seedier, mysoginistic, even violent side of the band emerges (esp through Landry Jones & dubious manager Jon Bernthal). It's well performed by the fine cast, and written & directed in original punchy style by Gerrado Naranjo, yet still feels rather inconsequential in the end.

What did I just watch? A bad version of Almost Famous? There was no point to this movie at all, no story, no likeable character, no nothing. Just a bunch of bums hanging around in a van on the road in the middle of nowhere, drinking and having sex. Dakota looked like a cadaver in this movie.

The music industry is full of abusive people and systems that enable them. I think Evan Rachel Wood is very intentionally in this film. If you know anything about her relationship with Brian Warner it seems obvious that she took this role because of her experience touring with Marilyn Manson when she was a teenager. Unlike other rock god fantasy movies, this one shows you how mundane, sad, and ultimately dangerous these situations can be. I don't get why this film has been rated so low. Maybe people just don't want to lose the illusion?