Head in Shadow

In late-1970s suburban London, Chris and Marion have settled into a comfortable yet all-too-predictable middle-class existence. Chris receives an unexpected visit from his free-spirited friend Toni, a reunion that reminds him of a more carefree time in 1960s Paris. Now, with lingering doubts about his marriage bubbling up, Chris must make the choice between revisiting his youthful abandon with Toni or facing the here and now with Marion.

Free-form and anarchic in a very English way, this elaborate, gothic, handmade production was based on a tale from the ARABIAN NIGHTS and looks forward to FLAMING CREATURES and other underground movies from the 60s that merge lush fantasy with grimy reality. Art director Bruce Lacey stars as the ghoulish witch doctor who brings a dead body back to life.

Mechanical statues and other pieces by Bruce Lacey.

Starring Lacey as the Mobile Absurd Non-entity, aka M.A.N. – a “synchronized, pressurized, energized, moisturized moron” – this angry, Goon-like film rips apart the factory-produced, ‘ideal home’-type lifestyle aggressively marketed in the post-war era with playful, witty panache.