“Look after those that look after you. Fuck off those that fuck off you.” says Dominic Noonan, reciting the advice given to him by his father. Noonan, the subject of Donal MacIntrye’s World Documentary competitor A Very British Gangster. Noonan takes this advice seriously – seriously enough to have his name legally changed to Lattlay Fottfoy. Has this advice served Noonan well in his career as one of Britain’s most notorious organized criminals?
Dominic Noonan does not look like the type of person you want to fuck with. With his shaved bald head and stocky frame, he looks like a cross between Tony Soprano and Ben Kingsley’s character in Sexy Beast. And he’s the real thing. The film begins with an anecdote about how a Manchester pub got the nickname ‘The Dog’s Head’ – early on in his career, Noonan beheaded the dog of a rival criminal with a machete, brought it into the pub, set it down on the pool table, and told the guy not to bother him anymore. It worked. He’s been convicted of more than 40 crimes, including charges for assault, robbery, kidnapping, drugs, and firearms possession. At his apartment in the poor section of Manchester where he grew up (and where he continues to live), he shows us a bulletproof vest and relates anecdotes about armed robberies past (and goes on to claim he gets a hard-on every time he passes an armored car one on the road).
MacIntrye holds the rank of Britain’s top investigative journalist, and obviously holds the respect of Noonan, and the gangster gives him an all access pass to his life and mind. MacIntrye does not shy away from asking any question (look for the scene when he politely inquires about Noonan’s sexual orientation), knows how to goad Noonan into going into more detail, knows how to talk around legal technicalities, like when he asks the Mr. Fottfoy about ordering people executed (allegedly), and is even granted interviews with Noonan’s eleven-year old son. It also helps that Noonan, despite his resume, is a charming and charismatic character who seems to have a natural talent for being in front of the camera.
More and more, as documentaries continue to rise as the coolest thing to happen to independent film since breakout ultra-low budget attention getters like Clerks, El Mariachi, The Living End and Following, documentary is becoming more of a style of filmmaking and less a genre. With it’s stylized editing, mix of black and white photography and euro-trash hip-hop soundtrack, this is a gangster film at heart.