Arriving at college, I learned rather fast that I’d been lied to over the years. Not by my former teachers or my parents, but by the local radio stations that swore they played only the best music there was. As I would roam the used records stores bordering the campus and poke through the vinyl collections of new friends in their dorm rooms; it became apparent that there was more to music than the hot new tracks from pop stars that were deemed radio friendly. There were tons of great albums that the Album Oriented Rock stations hid so they could play another track from REO Speedwagon and Styx. The music I’d discover at that time wasn’t sugary pop confections. It’s easy to see why a programming director at a radio station would want to spin another Bob Seager rocker than a 15 minute instrumental with distortion squeals as the bass beat. One of the bands that found itself into my collection of music never played on the radio was the early work of Soft Machine. This was a band that experimented with rock and jazz. I figured they had to be a bit out there since they named themselves after a William S. Burrough’s novel. I noticed that drummer and vocalist Robert Wyatt left the band after their landmark Third album. Seeing how this was the time before Wikipedia (or the internet) and nobody I knew was big into Soft Machine, I didn’t know what happened. Rock Bottom gives an animated explanation of Robert Wyatt’s life after he left the band. The songs found on his second solo album Rock Bottom create the narrative.
Rob ends up at a groovy party in downtown New York City at a time when a records store let you listen to the vinyl and the Twin Towers were finally complete. Things are rather wild at the semi-psychedelic shindig with most of the partygoers stripping down and tripping. While the drugs are kicking in, he gets lured into improving on the drums with a few other musicians. His performance inspires one lady to grab him and drag him into the bathroom for lot of fun. Before anything too wild can happen, Bob’s girlfriend Alfreda shows up and bangs on the bathroom door. Instead of trying to explain away the situation. Bob climbs out the bathroom window onto the ledge. This leads to a flashback of his time in Majorca with Alfreda. At first they enjoy getting high and shooting film on the beaches. But she begins to have doubts about her artistic ambitions. Robert run into his old bandmates. The film bounces between the vacation and the consequence of crawling out a bathroom window.
The movie is not an accurate portrayal of Robert Wyatt’s life. He’s a semi-fictional character in the animated world. The party where he went out the bathroom window was in London not New York City. By making it semi-fictional, you don’t have to worry about it be so accurate fact wise, but emotionally. There are real parts of his life in the film. His girlfriend (and eventual wife) Alfreda Benge worked on the editing team of Nic Roeg’s Don’t Look Now. While on location in Venice with her, Robert wrote the songs featured on Rock Bottom. The music is really the songs from Robert Wyatt’s Rock Bottom album. The record features both Alfreda and Mike Oldfield (Tubular Bells) and was produced by Nick Mason of Pink Floyd.
What gets me most about Rock Bottom is that writer-director María Trénor cared so much about the life and music of Robert Wyatt that she made a film about him. That’s got to be a hard sell when you go looking for backers. Even after all these years, Soft Machine and Robert Wyatt are considered obscure. It would have been “easier” to pitch a movie about Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd. Rock Bottom feels like a passion project that explores the musician from the inside out. His relationship with Alfreda adds so much to his story. I’m not sure if the experimental film scenes in the movie reflect her actual work of the time, but I’d hope so. Because of the psychedelic influences via music and actual drugs in Robert and Alfreda’s relationship, animation is the best way to depict them. The film has moments when things flow over each other character that couldn’t be captured in a live action biopic. Can their love remain when tested by so much vice? Their relationship helps in a sense that you don’t have to be a fan (or even know about Soft Machine and Robert Wyatt) to appreciate the movie. You can sit back and enjoy the trippy journey of Robert and Alfreda that’s at the heart of Rock Bottom.
The Video is 1.85:1 anamorphic. The transfer brings out the experimental nature of the animation. The Audio is Dolby 5.1 Surround and 2.0 Stereo. They did a restoration of Robert Wyatt’s Rock Bottom album for the release. It sounds great. The movie is Closed Captioned.
Slideshow (2:55) are press photos, background artwork,
Trailer (2:05) has Bob arrive at the party.
Cleopatra Entertainment presents Rock Bottom. Directed by María Trénor. Screenplay by María Trénor. Starring the voices of Daniel Masalles, Lisa Reventós, Omar Sanchís, Laura Casaña, Fermí Delfa & Roger Riu Gasso. Running Time: 88 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: May 13, 2024.
