Film Review: The Disappearance of Kevin Johnson (1996)
Mock documentaries represent the kind of films that appear easy to make, but are actually quite difficult to make properly. Some of the challenges that they might provide for a film maker might be seen in The Disappearance of Kevin Johnson, 1996 film written and directed by Francis Megahy.
The film begins when fictious West of England Television sends a documentary crew to Los Angeles in order to produce a film about successful British expatriates in Hollywood. The person chosen is Kevin Johnson, aspiring but apparently very successful producer who, despite his humble background, managed to win hearts and minds of all the most powerful and influential people in the film industry. The problem for the crew led by unnamed narrator (voiced by Megahy) is that Johnson mysteriously disappeared and now they have to somehow reconstruct his life by talking to various persons with whom he had professional or personal connections – agents, screenwriters, producers, studio executives, employees or girlfriend. As the mystery grows, another, more sinister, picture emerges in which Johnson apparently got involved in certain shady deals that might had led to something very bad happening to him.
British director Francis Megahy had interesting titles in his filmography, including some, like The Great Riviera Bank Robbery, which represented dramatic reconstruction of true event. In The Disappearance of Kevin Johnson he goes in the opposite direction and represent the fiction as a true event. Inspired by Altman’s The Player, Megahy explores the deception, corruption, exploitationa and depravity behind glitzy facade of Hollywood by using mild and usually dark humour. Made almost completely of fictional interviews, very much in style of true crime documentaries that are currently popular on Netflix, Megahy’s film also tries to develop some sort of plot, with unnamed film maker slowly solving a mystery with strong “noirish” vibes. Like with many mockumentaries, it is a good idea that doesn’t always work, most notably in scenes when the proper balance between realism and satirical mockery isn’t properly established. Another issue with the film is the casting. In order to “documentary” illusion to work, roles must be made by relatively unknown actors, at least those that aren’t as easily recognisable as Pierce Brosnan, James Coburn and Dudley Moore (in his last credited roles) who play themselves. More experienced and more perceptive viewers would, on the other hand, easily recognise glamorous Kari Wuhrer as elite prostitute, Michael Brandon (star of Dempsey and Makepeace) as an agent, Richard Beymer (Ben Horne in Twin Peaks) as frustrated screenwriter and Guy Siner (Captain Gruber in ’Allo ‘Allo) as corrupt travel agent. The cast does more than solid job and Megahy handles the plot generally well, maintaining good tempo and evading repetitiveness, despite annoying music soundtrack by John Coda. The reveal at the mystery and last minute plot twist might leave some of the viewers slightly disappointed, but The Disappearance of Kevin Johnson is mostly satisfying experience, at least for those who didn’t expect mockumentary on the same level as This Is Spinal Tap.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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