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A Skin Too Few: The Days Nick Drake

2000, Movie, NR, 48 mins

A Skin Too Few: The Days Nick Drake: Review

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In the years following his death in 1974, Nick Drake's musical legacy languished in the same state of obscurity as it did during his lifetime, known — and deeply loved — by British folk enthusiasts and clued-in hipsters. And then came the TV spot for the revamped Volkswagen Beetle that prominently featured Drake's haunting "Pink Moon" on the soundtrack. No matter that the lyrics are probably about death; it proved the perfect song to sell an updated symbol of the '60s to 21st-century post-baby boomers, and introduced a new generation to one of the great tragic talents of the early '70s. This short, beautifully crafted film from the Netherlands does right by Drake, who poses a unique challenge to any documentary biographer. Not only is little known about a man who, after recording three short albums of songs, died at the age of 26, but there isn't a single extant frame of footage of Drake as an adult. But in many ways these obstacles help shape the film into something evocative of Drake's intensely personal music; as Drake sings of himself in "Know," he's simply not there. Resourceful filmmaker Jeroen Berkvens makes good use of what he's got: Super-8 home movies shot in Rangoon, Burma, where Drake was born; footage of Drake's bedroom in upper-middle-class Tanworth-in-Arden where Nick, his parents, Rodney and Molly, and Nick's older sister, Gabrielle, moved when Nick was four. Berkvens similarly shoots around Cambridge University, where Nick read the great English poets, and then London, where Drake moved in 1969 to pursue a recording career. Efforts by his label to turn him into a star were hampered by public disinterest and Drake's own deteriorating mental state. Growing increasingly isolated and silent, Drake eventually retreated to his childhood home where, overwhelmed by a sense of failure, he ended his life with an overdose of antidepressants that might have been accidental. There may not be much more to say about Drake's life, but Berkvens fleshes this 47-minute film out with interesting bits, like a demonstration of the way sound engineer John Wood and arranger Robert Kirby achieved the lonesome sound of Drake's "Chimes of the City Clock." Drake's parents are only heard in voice-over, but Gabrielle, an actress, speaks eloquently about her brother's life, death and the price one ultimately pays for coming from a loving family: terrible grief. It's a lovely tribute to an extraordinary talent whose music might have been forgotten, and you really couldn't ask for a more beautiful soundtrack. leave a comment --Ken Fox
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