Digital Dreams

"Digital Dreams" is a surreal account of Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman's attempts to computerize his life's experiences in spite of his wife's and various acquaintances nagging and interfering. Full of dry humor and interesting characters played by James Coburn, Patrick Moore, Richard O'Brien and Stanley Unwin, this film is a must for serious fans of The Rolling Stones in general and Bill Wyman in particular. The specialized animation of Pink Floyd's "The Wall"'s Gerald Scarfe lends the film an added dream like quality. The movie includes many subtle references to various aspects of Wyman's life during his time with the Stones. Charlie Watts and his wife Shirley as well as Bill's son Stephen and ladyfriend Astrid at the time are also on hand to assist but mostly hinder Bill in his quest. I highly recommend this film to anyone with an interest in the subject matter.

A free-form account of the life of Bill Wyman, adapted from his computerised diaries, and apparently dedicated to all diary writers. Thank you! From the moment he apparently swallowed a lightbulb as a child it seems Wyman was destined for an unusual life, and an obsession with computers. The swallowing episode initially leads to his doctor (Stanley Unwin) stuffing his mouth with more cotton wool than Marlon Brando. Director Robert Dornhelm's 1983 feature film sees the deprived child Wyman scampering around on a slag heap and getting an earful from his teacher (Unwin). As an adult we see Bill (or 'Beel') Wyman (or 'Wymould') twiddling about on his Apple computer (and becoming a complete computer addict once he, as it were, took a bite, according to his complaining, card reading Swedish wife Astrid), looking at the stars with Patrick Moore, fishing in his moat at Gedding manor, trying to cope with Richard O'Brien (who wrote the additional dialogue), and reminiscing about his experiences with the Rolling Stones (whilst going through a car wash), before ending in a Western fantasy where he finally vanquishes James Coburn. Featuring in-jokes, fantasy scenes, animation (by Gerald Scarfe), documentary footage, and scenes which seem like they might have been improvised, this is a humour saturated distillation of memories, ideas, symbols, thoughts, emotions, fantasies etc. Into images and sounds. And he walks into the sunset with Astrid and a pram with a lovely little...