For four weeks throughout the months of September and October 2011 Andrew Kötting and Iain Sinclair pedalled a plastic swan over 160 miles from the seaside in Hastings to Hackney in East London. Read more …
They drank 84 litres of water, 2 bottles of whisky, 4 bottles of wine and 24 cans of special brew. They got through 8 pairs of sunglasses, a handmade suit, a pair of walking boots and a camper van.
Considering both men have form exploring British life via quirky travelogues, the shaggy-dog surrealism is frustratingly vague and only fitfully entertaining; revealingly, it’s ‘guest pedallers’ Alan Moore and Stewart Lee who steal the show.
From the kind of four-in-the-morning idea that could have been concocted by a bunch of addled students comes a quirky Jerome K. Jerome-ish insight into this strange land. Not for everyone, but still well worth exploring.
Misses a few socio-political tricks, but Kötting and Sinclair make for fine shipmates.
It is a bit of a vanity project: but the sight of these two guys and their great big swan is surreal and funny.
There’s something enjoyably Herzogian about the pair’s trip: the way Kötting and Sinclair wrestle their craft, nicknamed Edith, over muddy embankments and bicker as they splosh along loamy waterways makes Swandown feel like Fitzcarraldo on a You’ve Been Framed budget.
A constantly beguiling movie with an underlying touch of bitterness, especially towards the end.
Ride it on out like a bird in the sky ways. It's a modest triumph.
It all comes together in a charming and idiosyncratic way to create a rich and often funny snapshot of local identity.
The concept – drifting along from Hastings to Hackney, musing on life, meeting strangers – sounds nicely wacky. Shame the reality is dull and exasperating.
Swandown: two men in a pedalo
Love Story: Andrew Kotting on Swandown
Iain Sinclair: Slinging mud at the Olympics
Documentary Swandown charts journey to Olympic village by swan pedalo
Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow from Monday August 20, 2012, until Wednesday August 22, 2012. More info: http://www.glasgowfilm.org/theatre/
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