Who Killed the KLF?

Well can I just say that to the people who are complaining about the documentary not being good enough and not what they expected from the klf well to be fair they didn't want this documentary aired at all and started legal proceedings against the producers who actually made this documentary which I believe had something to with James corden's production company so yes there was alot of things in it that maybe didn't make much sense and wasn't what alot of people expected from this pair of guys who were behind it but as I said before it wasn't them who actually wanted it aired and would almost certainly have done it differently so maybe take that into account.

I was keen to see this in the cinema but it didnt really appear anywhere that I was able to attend so it was a surprise when this arrived online. Its been a while since I last thought about it I had to check this was the new documentary and not just a re-release of the burning of the cash film.

These style of docs seem to be made from offcuts of recorded dialogue and archival footage, which on the basis means they can be made by anyone at anytime about anybody, with little input from the bands. As such its basically a montage with some structure while emotive music plays in the background with the odd scene of actors pretending to be the band in unusual places.

The pros are that we get some new information about the band, which is pretty much it.

The cons are greater in number. For a start the documentary is apparently suggesting the KLF were the first to use samples, in 1987, as if hip hop didn't exist. Hip hop was almost entirely samples based music with a few drum machines. Those that were not like stetsasonic were rare. When the band actually state they were trying to make a hip hop record.

There is some background info on their philosophy but like almost every topic its very surface level, the interview footage doesnt go into any great depth its mainly soundbytes.

And while that is the main issue, lack of depth the other is it entirely fails to provide an explanation for anything, in particular the burning of the million pounds. This appears to be a deliberate act of self harm on the part of the group and they obviously have never recovered from it. The telling statement that one of them was prone to thoughts of self harming was their idea of chopping off their hand to throw on the audience which is documented in this title. There is no psychological analysis of the pair which is exactly what this documentary lacked and probably what both of the guys needed to come to terms and gain insight into some of their self destructive actions. To simply put it down to art is lazy as well as an avoidance of accountability.

In terms of burning the cash however, cash is burned on a daily basis when it reaches its end of usefulness, which kind of undermines their act of burning their money. It would have been burned anyway.

The ending brings this all home as it basically ends without resolving anything, it seemed to end 15 mins too early.

I am sure this is a better doc to be made about the KLF however this one will have to do for fans for now.

Apparently the KLF are quite happy with this doc, most likely because it doesnt actually answer anything......which suits their agenda quite well.

I'm a fan of the KLF, and was pretty excited to watch this. For most of the run time I was mesmerized; I caught tidbits that I already knew and saw many more that I didn't know about. Understanding the KLF is sort of like nailing Jello to a tree, mostly pointless. I appreciate the music, tolerate the "art", and deal with how it all ended.

I was just as disappointed with the ending to this film. While I wouldn't call WKtK an all consuming encyclopedia of things KLF, I was a bit confused by the omission of 2K, the Band that released "F*** The Millennium". Why not mention this? It was clearly a part of the Cauty and Drummond timeline, and could have filled the "23 year gap" a bit. I'm guessing that by leaving it out it served the not talking about the Million Pound burning for 23 years plot point a bit better. Sloppy.

The film also seems to paint the duo as geniuses that the rest of us just couldn't quite understand, but the reality is that they met their goal and became so "quirky" that it was impossible to understand them. (My regret is that their goal could have been a bit loftier.)

Is this movie worth watching? No.

How was the plot? Boring.

Was the budget enough? Yes.

What is this movie saying about our world? Stop techno.

What is your emotional response to this movie? Yawn.

What did this movie make me feel? Bored.

What moments, character, or ideas resonated with me while watching this movie? The end.

What thoughts does this movie spark in me? Run.

What themes are present in this movie? Greed.

Why would someone want to watch this film? Because they didn't change the channel fast enough.

What is one good or cool thing I could say about this movie to someone else? It is in engineering.

What does this movie have to say about the big story we are in? Stop watching movies.

What does it make me think about? Going home.

I don't believe a word of the 'put together from previously unheard tapes' claims and am hugely suspicious of the provenance of this film, some of the participants claims, and some of the footage. It feels like an attempt to retrofit legendary status to a band and art movement that never really fortified its message, I suspect by the band themselves...but perhaps that's the point.

Having spent four years at art school in the eighties and danced through the nineties in my twenties I don't recall The KLF as much more than a curious novelty act who also happened to have a couple of decent tunes, and certainly not 'the hottest band on the planet with the music world in their hands' as this film claims. The horns, the wheelchairs the money burning etc always seemed an eye-rolling-inducing cry for attention to me, but like all art, good or bad, that's a bit subjective I suppose. I certainly don't remember them being the legends that this film claims them to be, but perhaps that's the point too.

The world definitely needed the KLF and their kind of pop-situationist nihilism should always have a place in the world but they were definitely of their time and this film is too meta to draw any reassuring, or even insightful, conclusions. Perhaps that's the point too.

So I can't help feeling cheated and slightly insulted by this film. They were good, but they weren't THAT good; after all these years, and in a more self-referential and cynical world, I think it would have been more interesting to get something a little more witty and perceptive from Drummond and Cauty rather than an exercise in trying (and failing IMO) to galvanise the myth, and the 'legend', especially when they seem to be saying ultimately, through a haze of regret (whether real or unreal), that their modus operandi was without purpose or any real meaning. The idea of sowing chaos, for instance, is a lot more interesting when viewed though the prism of today's world, but this is never explored.

A missed opportunity, but maybe that was the whole point. Either way, I hope the re-released back catalogue gives them a bit of a pension; just try not to 'burn it' this time.