Darnell Dawkins – Mouth Guitar Legend: Review
Official Synopsis:
The 1960s were a time of change, turmoil, and great music. At the center of it all was a man named Darnell Dawkins (Ross Patterson), who personally broke down racial barriers and gave hope for change through his music. Due to his father s disregard for what Darnell stood for, he blocked any and all footage that could have been released to his fans and the public. Now, after a series of lengthy court battles, Darnell s life during this historic time is finally brought to light.
As soon as the film starts it plays out like an episode of Behind The Music and it’s pretty convincing too, until Dawkins is inserted into history right next to Jimi Hendrix. The story is a pretty funny one. The idea of a man becoming a music legend by making guitar sounds with his mouth is silly but this mockumentary…….makes it even sillier. Silly in a good way though. Patterson was really funny as the fictitious musician and played him so serious that he almost had me believing the story he was telling….well, kind of. The 60’s setting was the perfect time-frame to base this on seeing as there’s nothing funnier than hippies. The other “interviewee’s” of the film were so good and from the sound of it, it seemed mostly improvised. It’s entertaining enough to keep your attention to see where the story is going to go but my only complaint was that it was a bit too long. At a running time of 1hr 27minutes, I felt like it could of been trimmed down a bit. Towards the end of the film it started to feel like it was a joke that ran a little too long. Other than that it was a unique (and amusing) take on a music documentary that isn’t entirely a “knee slapper” but it will keep you chuckling the whole way through.
