Paul Duane’s new documentary takes us deep into the shambolic world of Jerry McGill, an aging rocker and one-time minor film star who spurned a rock’n’roll career for a life of crime, robbing banks and running from the FBI. When, after three jail sentences, aged 70 and suffering from terminal cancer, McGill announced his return to the business, Duane headed impetuously for Memphis on his trail.

Very Extremely Dangerous is a first-person documentary narrated by Duane, a wide-eyed Irish innocent abroad, who is alternately mesmerised and terrified by the antics of the heavily-armed and drug-addled McGill and his longsuffering fiancée, Joyce, as they travel through four states in an attempt to pull off a final recording session 50 years since his last (also, actually, his first) record was released in 1959. Darkly compelling with a fresh, off-kilter energy, the film demonstrates that love, friendship and art can play a role even within the most toxic, self-destructive lives.(Notes By Sunniva O’Flynn)

“There’s a romantic side to this man” – listen back to the post-screening interview with director Paul Duane, hosted by Head of IFI Programming, Michael Hayden [PODCAST]

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