RASH

(Madman Entertainment)

Rating: 3.5
Runtime: 73mins
Starring: CHALI 2na (USA), Dominic Allen, HAHA, James Dodd, KAB 101, KANO, KASINO, LISTER, MEEK, TOWER (Berlin) CIVIL, DEST, FLIQ (BURN Crew), MILES, Miles Allinson, PRISM, PSALM, REKA, SYNC, SIXTEN (Sweden), SNOG, Tai Snaith, VEXTA
Director: Nicholas Hansen

There is something about a local film that makes it so much more watchable. This is a real Melburnite’s docco. According to its synopsis ‘Rash: scratch it and it spreads’ tells the story of Melbourne and the artists who make it a living host for illegal artwork. The punters who throw their work on Melbourne’s walls are social commentators. They use Melbourne as their canvas. And while they tell the story of why they work in the way they do, it is their work that tells the the bigger, more important story. As a result, the city of Melbourne is every bit as much of a star of this DVD as the artists who ‘scratch’ their work all over it.

I spent countless hours on public transport in my youth wondering who the people were behind all of the wonderful graffiti that peppers Melbourne’s walls. Agreed, there’s a lot of it, mainly tagging, that is clearly lacking from an aesthetic point of view. But some of the work out there on factory walls, the underside of arched train bridges and plastered on the backs of street signs is nothing short of brilliant.

I have even got to the point of being able to pick the same artists’ work from a distance as I wander through town on the way to work of a morning these days. There are a few exceptional laneway haunts that sport what I consider to be the pick of Melbourne’s street art, and all the usual suspects have a real showing there. It brought me great pleasure to see those same places, and those same themes, recurring through Scratch. It made these people real, it made their causes and their concerns more tactile and it makes the art all the more interesting to be able to put a name and a story to it.

This is a well crafted piece, with plenty of interesting tales and anecdotes, along with all the pretty bits that make it easy to watch for 73mins without feeling like you’re just watching moving images of compilations of still images.

Worth the effort for any Melburnian… If you’re from out of town, scratch it and see?

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

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