Matangi/Maya/M.I.A.

Dir: Steve Loveridge

2018

***

Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. isn’t the feature documentary I was expecting. Turns it wasn’t the film M.I.A. was expecting either. The film was in production as early as 2011. Steven Loveridge, long term friend of M.I.A. (real name Maya Arulpragasam), was given tapes and footage by M.I.A. from her personal collection to build the film. In July 2013, Loveridge released a teaser video on YouTube responding to his dissatisfaction with Interscope Records and legal and funding delays associated with the project. The video was pulled from YouTube after a copyright claim was made by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry on behalf of Interscope and Roc Nation, the label representing the singer. Loveridge quit the project, stating he would "rather die" than work on it any further. However, the video attracted the attention of the production company Cinereach, and in November, Loveridge restarted the project and the UK non-profit documentary support organization Britdoc Foundation announced funding. The film was eventually released in September 2018. After the film's premiere, Loveridge said that his intention with the film was to give background and context to M.I.A. as a person, in the current time period where 'media moves so fast'. He had disagreed with media coverage of her being presented as a 'controversial pop star' without an audience understanding her origins. He tried to centre the film more on the backstory of Maya, her upbringing, migration to the United Kingdom and the relationship between her father, his political activism and the civil conflict in Sri Lanka in 2010. This was distinct to the expectations that M.I.A. had for the project, which is that it would become a 'tour documentary’. M.I.A. had not actually seen the film prior to the premiere, suggesting in an interview at the Sundance Film Festival that Loveridge had been absent for the last 4 years, communicating with her sporadically. Loveridge responded and said he had "been drowned in MIA and her story and like my all day every day for the last four years". She remarked in another interview that "Loveridge took all the shows where I look good and tossed it in the bin. Eventually, if you squash all the music together from the film, it makes for about four minutes. I didn’t know that my music wouldn’t really be a part of this. I find that to be a little hard, because that is my life.” She later remarked that she felt Loveridge had "boiled the film down to an essence of what people already know about me" but that she "could still make 20 other films and not crossover with what Steve has made". Loveridge said that his film "wasn't about music", and that it was necessary to keep distance between himself and the artist during the editing process, and avoid the subject of the film influencing their portrayal as any documentary filmmaker would. I can’t help but agree with Loveridge and I’m somewhat surprised that M.I.A. disapproved of the finished article. I thought she came off quite well, even considering how excruciatingly pretentious she can be. I didn’t know the full extent of her history, so while it won’t be news to her, it will be news to many others. I like her music a lot and I understand it but now knowing her history is seems to have far more prevalence to me. I do find her somewhat annoying but I disagree that she is fake or false in any way. She’s authentic, the real deal and I think her activism is admirable and from the heart. She certainly isn’t an industry puppet and those who seem to love knocking her down clearly haven’t taken the time to listen to what she has to say or understand where she is coming from. It is her art school bullshit that annoys most people – I can say that because I also went to art school and find myself spouting the same crap. I’m jealous of her success – not only because she seem to always find herself in the right place at the right time, but also because she had great ideas at a young age. Delusions of grandeur and unwavering confidence can be mistaken for one another and they can often have the same symptoms. There is a scene that sums up a lot of the nonsense surrounding the singer for me and that is when she stuck up her middle finger during the Super Bowl show she did supporting Madonna. The media really went for her – more than they would for any other singer – and you can’t help but think it was because she had challenged them and was of a certain ethnicity. She has been seen as something of a cliché and a contradiction, which she really isn’t. The thing is, there is absolutely nothing clever or revolutionary about ‘flicking the bird’ as they say. Maybe the film should have been just about her music, but somehow that wouldn’t have been enough or indeed worthwhile when you can just watch one of her videos or concert footage whenever. I learned a lot about her, the documentary is subjective but balanced and she retains most of the mystery that has served her well for the best part of the decade. No one is perfect, so it is absurd that we expect perfection from pop stars, actors and celebrities etc. Her music tells you everything you need to know really and love or hate her, she’s authentic, unique and worth checking out as is this insightful film (no matter what she says).