Well, there’s a revelation then: Gruff Rhys has some eccentric relatives. As the lead singer of king freaks Super Furry Animals, Rhys has dabbled in just about every musical genre available, ridden around festivals in a fluorescent pink tank, broken the world record for the most profane song ever, and once got Paul McCartney to crunch celery on one of his records. That’s all been well-documented in the past, however, and is almost irrelevant when considering his new film. For Separado! focuses on a more personal concern for Rhys – his family history, a long-lost popstar Uncle, and a little-known enigma in South American history.
Of course, this isn’t a straight documentary. It opens with a reconstruction of a horse race in the 1880s, which was fixed by Rhys’ great-great-great Uncle, and which prompted an exodus to
Intrigued by both these aspects of his family’s heritage, Rhys travelled to Argentina to track down Griffiths, also promoting his then new album, Candylion, by playing in tiny village halls to miniscule audiences (one of these audiences is simply described as ‘a horse in a field. An indifferent horse.’) Along the way he is supported by local acts including the ‘incredible’ Tony Da Gattora (essentially a man yelling “HYPOCRITES! WAR CRIME!” to a bemused public). It is a strange quest indeed, but Rhys is a charmingly inept host: his thick Welsh accent means that ‘horse race’ emerges as ‘ostrich’ (which confused me enormously at first), and he seems reluctant to say very much about what this journey means to him personally, choosing instead to let his Welsh / Spanish-speaking relatives do the talking. Which they do, at length. Luckily they have fascinating stories to tell.
For those already au fait with Rhys’ music, this is a delight: there is a singalong to ‘Gyrru Gyrru Gyrru’ (‘Driving Driving Driving’) and a beautiful live version of ‘Lonesome Words’. Most of the soundtrack is drawn from his two solo albums to date, Candylion and, er, the one with the really long Welsh name.
Separado! is a bit like an episode of ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ directed by Terry Gilliam. It is silly, endearing and very much a family affair. There are moments where the documentary loses its narrative thrust a little and wanders off in another direction – I found the section on global gold-mining to be a little too preachy – but surely that is a true reflection of our intrepid yet clueless protagonist. Rhys’ charm is the real winner here, and Separado! is worth its feature-length running time because of it.
No amount of charm will ever make me buy a Tony Da Gattora album though. Ever.
7/10
