With the pandemic effectively shutting down film production it was Kevin Allen who managed to write and direct a film out on the beautiful Gower peninsula. Titled ‘La Cha Cha’ the film follows Solti (Liam Hourican) on a road trip to scatter his grandfather’s ashes. But with conditions turning against him Solti stumbles across La Cha Cha a kind of commune of like minded individuals many in their twilight years and as determined to avoid the doom of a retirement home which at the time the film was shot seemed like a Matt Hancock inspired policy to introduce an unofficial version of Dignitas to the UK.
Run by 20-something Libby ( Ruby Ashbourne Serkis ) it is essentially a caravan park where all manner of oddities, whack jobs and the delusional reside that it’s a wonder the film wasn’t shot in the House of Lords. Amongst these we have Keith Allen and Alfie Allen as well as Sonny Ashbourne Serkis – yes there’s a sense that a number of favours were called in with so many siblings and relatives in the cast. Joining them is also Dougray Scott and Rhys Ifans who makes a fleeting cameo along with a number of notable welsh actors and the cast is populated with a rage of characters that include naturists to gay paint ballers (the sporting pastime rather than some bizarre sexual practice) and amongst this is a developing romance between Solti and Libby who at the same time is battling to save her land from repossession.
In keeping with so many creatives during lockdown (stand ups performing over zoom or in car parks) there is an air of friends getting together to continue practising their craft and its Ruby Ashbourne Serkis who comes out best of all from the eclectic cast. At a time when so many blockbusters went into an extended break in their shoots director Kevin Allen has stripped his production right down to basics filming the whole film on an iphone (Steven Soderburgh did the same with his 2018 experimental psycho thriller ‘Unsane’ ) and he’s been able to offer opportunities to those wanting to get into film making with a number of roles on the production. It’s a far from perfect film and there’s something of the ‘let’s make a film right here, right now’ about it but there are some enjoyably potty moments
related feature : Steven Soderburgh’s ‘Unsane’ reviewed here
related feature : David Earl talks, ‘Apocalypse Clown’, doing his own stunts and his worst stand up gig ever!
We chatted to Kevin Allen about the making of the film…..
Here’s the La Cha Cha trailer….
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