Father Geek here with a Euro-report on a Brit Flick that Harry and I came very very close to viewing at a press screening when we were in London on the Book Tour back at the beginning of March. Everything was set up for us to see it with members of the British media by our lovely Advance-Lady Dusty, buuuuuuuut at the last minute more press interviews of Harry were requested and we couldn't make it to the theater, bummer, but that (interviews) was what we were really over there for after all. We were gifted with a wonderful Broadleaf edition of the 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE book instead (along with several other excellant film related books) and I must say that the story is very intriging and ol' Father Geek can't wait to catch the film when it hits Austin (probably at the Dobie Landmark Theater) later this summer. We had to bow out of a British Film Institute screening of the outstanding English Classic "IF" too, because a TV shoot at our hotel ran long pushing a Magazine photo shoot into the BFI's time slot. This was especially sad because the film is not available stateside in any form because of the school ground violence it depicts so well. Someone slipped us a video print of this at our booksigning though. COOL! Maybe we'll get sent an advance screener of "Party People" so we can spread a little early firsthand buzz, but for now here's what Neth has to say about it...
Maybe we'll get sent an advance screener of "Party People" so we can spread a little early firsthand buzz, but for now here's what Neth has to say about it...
Neth here, with a review of the new British movie 24 Hour Party People. I know the movie is getting a limited release in the States over the summer, so perhaps even your pre-dominantly American audience might find this review of some use.
Michael Winterbottom, the man previously behind the likes of The Claim and Welcome To Sarajevo, directs 24 Hour Party People. Winterbottom seems to swing between lavish production pieces like The Claim, and low-budget, shot-on-the-run pics like Wonderland. 24 Hour Party People falls into the latter category
The movie is essentially a biopic of a man named Tony Wilson. A minor celebrity on regional TV during the late 70s and early 80s, Wilson also claims to have introduced punk and dance music into the UK culture via his own record label, Factory Records, and his club The Hacedina. To cut a long story short, he’s the man who discovered Joy Division (and later New Order), as well as the notorious (over here, at least) Happy Mondays, and he also believes that he is soley responsible for the current “DJ-culture”. The film charts Factory’s rise and fall, covering a period from 1976 through to the early 1990s.
Winterbottom has tried hard to make his movie like the bastard offspring of a threesome between Fight Club, Trainspotting and Natural Born Killers, and to a certain degree he succeeds. There are a few moments of brilliant anarchy on display here – one scene features the poisoning of hundred of pigeons, mostly shot from the pigeons’ POV in the style of attacking fighter planes. Yes, this sounds bizarre, but if you do get to see this, you’ll understand what I mean. The film does a have a general “punk-ish” feel to it. There are also a couple of nice touches where Wilson (played superbly by British comedian Steve Coogan) talks directly to the audience – this is a trick that could have made the movie seem rather corny, but it’s pulled off brilliantly. Witness the scene where Wilson lists all the cameos fr! om the REAL people involved in Factory Records, and then adds that some of their scenes were deleted and will probably turn up on the DVD. How very post-modern.
Where the movie fails, however, is in managing to flesh out any of the characters other than Wilson himself. The suicide of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis is made to be nothing more than an mildly interesting footnote, although it has to be said that Sean Harris’s turn as Curtis is spot-on, capturing his mannerisms and stage performance perfectly. Other characters drift in and out of the film with little acknowledge, automatically presuming that the audience is well-versed on the bands and personalities involved in the “Mad-chester” music scene.
Ultimately, 24 Hour Party People plays more like a series of amusing or tragic anecdotes than a coherent story. Seeing the movie with little or no background knowledge of the bands and people involved is more than likely to leave you feeling cold, although it must be said that Coogan’s performance alone makes the film worthwhile. Sardonic, egotistical but never dislikeable, he’s the strong centre to the chaos around him. Kudos must also go to Winterbottom for making an effort to capture the anarchic spirit of the time – it’s a brave attempt, and one which to a certain degree it works very well indeed.
Neth
