Desire: The Carl Craig Story
The Detroit DJ proves to be an engaging presence in Jean-Cosme Delaloye's proficient documentary.
Image courtesy of Sovereign Film Distribution.
The most striking feature of Jean-Cosme Delaloye's documentary is the colour photography of Fábio Erdos which stands out in a way that rarely happens in films of this genre. One notes it early on because this is a film about the techno musician Carl Craig who was born in 1969 and who is proud to be an established part of Detroit's musical history. A leading light in techno music’s second generation, he is fully aware of the city’s decay but regards reacting against that as something which positively encouraged creativity among Detroit's many young musicians. Indeed, it seems apt to suggest that in Carl Craig’s eyes the city as a home of musicians invites comparison with Liverpool. But its downside is not shirked and early on in the film we see some of the city’s dilapidated buildings and it's here that we immediately become aware that Erdos has the talent to turn such images into wonderful pictures. Delaloye shares the credit for taking good advantage of his skills.
Although the Philadelphia-based Brazilian Jean-Cosme Delaloye has previously concentrated on documentaries dealing with issues of social concern, Desire is self-evidently a music doc in which Carl Craig, now fifty-five, is the lynchpin and guide as he looks back on a career that has made him an international figure. He first considers his early days with contributions from his parents, Wallace and Rosa, and briefer comments from his sister and older brother. He describes how his parents although supportive were appalled when his interest in a guitar took him in the direction of techno music (when growing up at home the record that was regularly being played and which he loathed was Mitch Miller’s ‘The Yellow Rose of Texas’!). We meet too Carl’s wife, Hagi, who tells an engaging story of how a first meeting at an airport misleadingly suggested an immediate sense of kinship based on their choice of reading matter. However, there is no mention at all of Carl Craig's first wife, Hannah Sawtell, and, while his parents reappear and the film ends unexpectedly with a tribute to his grandmother, one does feel that a little more about his personal life would have added to our interest beyond the music.
But the fact is that Delaloye’s film very much concentrates on the career and, if the major audience for the film is bound to consist of lovers of techno music, they will find the amount of it to be heard here a source of delight. However, for someone like myself ready to learn about an unfamiliar music world the film is at times less informative than it might be. Craig would run a record label, Planet E Communications, for thirty years and was involved in setting up festivals in Detroit (the Electronic Festival and the Movement Festival) and we learn that Miles Davis was Carl’s idol and that his influences extended from black jazz to classical music. But, if the film’s title refers to one of his most popular recordings (‘Desire’), it is nevertheless the case that for an outsider like myself the connections between his various functions (electronic music producer, DJ, an artist in remixing) could have been made clearer and more detailed. Late on when we hear that Carl has moved into a new realm with a sound and light installation, ‘Party/After-Party’, the description of what was involved here could surely have been elaborated further.
What we do get from this film and from the wide range of enthusiasts who line up to pay tribute (not excluding a younger generation who admire what Carl Craig achieved) is the sense that techno is first and foremost an expression of black brotherhood. Detroit may have a central role in it but the film, shot from 2022 onwards, features DJs, musicians and producers from many parts of the world (England, Switzerland, Germany, Mexico, France, and various American cities including New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Chicago). There is a strong sense that delight in techno music is something that spreads this sense of brotherhood around the world.
Here and there in this film one misses extra elaboration both about the work and the life, but Carl Craig provides an engaging centre to it all and, especially for those who relish the sound of techno music in the hands of an expert, Desire: The Carl Craig Story should fit the bill admirably.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Featuring Carl Craig, Wallace Craig, Rosa Craig, Hagi Craig, Felicia Jones, Steven Craig, Laurent Garnier, Roni Size, Kenny Larkin, Jon Dixon, James Lavelle, Moritz von Oswald, DJ Minx, Gilles Peterson, Gamall Awad, Fabio, Recloose, Mirko Loko, Francisco Mora Catlett, David Teruel, Kelly Kivland, Derrick May.
Dir Jean-Cosme Delaloye, Pro Dan Wechsler and Andreas Roald, Screenplay Jean-Cosme Delaloye, Ph Fabio Erdos and Gabriel Bonnefoy, Ed Kenneth Wachtel.
Bord Cadre Films/JCDE Productions/Prestige Films-Sovereign Film Distribution.
90 mins. Switzerland/UK. 2024. UK Rel: 8 May 2025. Cert. 15.
