ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ

A 25th anniversary reissue of writer-director Christopher Petit's sombre British road movie. Shot in melancholic monochrome, it follows a morose factory worker DJ Robert (David Beams), who drives from London to Bristol to investigate the apparent suicide of his brother. Travelling through desolate urban and rural landscapes, he encounters a number of fellow lost-souls, including an army deserter, a garage mechanic (Sting), and a young German woman, Alice (Liza Kreuzer), seeking to be reunited with her daughter.

"I wanted to do an observational film - motivation didn't interest me", said Petit in an interview at the time of Radio On's original release in 1979. Certainly this isn't a work to concern itself with the back-stories of its characters, and the puzzle of Robert's sibling's death is never resolved. Instead what's important here is the series of chance encounters, which revolve around the theme of non-communicaton between the protagonist and those he meets en-route: the lack of close-up shots heightens the sense of estrangement between individuals.

"DISENCHANTMENT AND ALIENATION"

The dialogue may be sparse, yet music seems to be everywhere in Radio On; emerging from transistor radios, car stereos and pub jukeboxes. The mission statement of Teutonic electro-pioneers Kraftwerk is pinned to the wall at the corpse's flat, and the group's belief that "our reality is an electronic reality" applies equally to world of this film. Fittingly two outstanding Kraftwerk songs Radioactivity and Ohm Sweet Ohm are the soundtrack to our anti-hero's car journeys.

Although heavily influenced by the work of German director Wim Wenders, who acted as Petit's associate producer, Radio On also gives a sense of a late 70s Britain awash in disenchantment and alienation, with the war in Ireland and terrorist activities in Europe dominating television news. Beams' passive, emotionally inexpressive performance is entirely in keeping with the sustained mood of oppressive bleakness.