"You Can't Handcuff The Wind"

10 May 2017

3 mins 59s

You Can't Handcuff The Wind

Julian Barratt - The Mighty Boosh; Flowers - stars in a new spoof movie about washed-up actor Richard Thorncroft who is unexpectedly thrust back into the limelight.

The premise is that Thorncroft played a TV character called Mindhorn back in the 80s (think Alan Partridge as Steve Austin channelling Lewis Collins) whose USP was a laser eyepatch that could literally see criminal lies. When the show was cancelled, the actor sank into obscurity... until now, when an unhinged killer on the Isle of Man tells the police that he will negotiate with them – but only if Mindhorn himself is part of the equation.

As self-important and deluded as either Brent or Partridge, Thorncroft's is a character we've seen before. However, that doesn't mean there isn't a place for him: there's an air of the grotesque about Barratt's alter ego which is entirely new in this genre.

And just to prime us for the treat in store, an old music video has surfaced of Thorncroft singing a soft-rock ballad from the era of his heyday. 'You Can't Handcuff The Wind' is a glorious paean to that decade's more dubious musical trends, and its accompanying promo - in 4:3 aspect, suffused with neon pinks and blues - brings a barrel of cheese to the party.

Resplendent in faded jeans tucked into pixie boots, Thorncroft sings of being the eponymous wind. No mere woman is going to tie him down, even if she sports Big Hair and an entire Boots store -worth of shiny make-up. No, he will "run like a stallion in the night" if she tries any emotional shenanigans with him.

It's these little details which turn this clip into such a triumph. For instance, the obligatory glimpse-of-steamy-sex scene features a shot that lingers lovingly on his sweaty back and the too-tight waistband of his Y-fronts; while the siren call of the unknown is conveyed by a ferry trip. And we love the glance of erotic promise that passes between him and his leading lady at the end when the cameras are still rolling.

On the basis of this, Mindhorn the movie is a must. We suspect it'll be rammed to the gills with in-jokes, callbacks and visual gags and we can't wait to feast our eyes on it.

UK

Promos