Harry here, there are fewer mates in the world as cool as my mate Reni. He sat next to the amazing Nordling at Butt-Numb-A-Thon 4 and together they birthed one hell of a friendship. While half a continent and an ocean apart, Nordling and Reni are both dishing away this morning about the films obscure and cool. Reni is a Manchester chap, and they don't come much cooler, much drunker and much more fun than Reni. His taste in music is as exquisite as his taste in beer.... And for a bloke from Manchester, that's saying a lot. Here's his thoughts on 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE which looks to be showing at Cannes this year!
24 Hr Party People inspite of everything is a fine film. I went into it with a lot of misgivings.
I knew it was going to betray a lot of things. I knew Tony Wilson was the wrong choice to focus the film on and I knew certain key bands were going to be ignored. But the fact that it's so consistently funny keeps the film from performing a disappearing trick up it's own arse.
Micheal Winterbottom, one of the few decent british film makers left working in the UK, directs entwining DV and archive band footage to amazing effect. You never see the fake Sex Pistols up close with the other actors, and just before any image is ruined, Winterbottom inserts real footage of the band playing their Pete Shelly arranged first gig in Manchester.
The plot - What Plot? Tony Wilson works for local news show Granada Reports and spends his free time following bands like The Pistols, Duritti Column, and Buzzcocks playing shit hole dives in the heart of the inner city. Along the way he meets legendary producer Martin Hannett and New Order Manager Rob Gretton, with whom he forms indie record label Factory Records, signs Joy Division and 'invents' The Hacienda.
There's no doubting Wilson's intelligence. He did go to Cambridge. But you woudln't want to go into business with him. All the bands on Factory were free to come and go as they please without a contract. Towards the end of Factory's life London records offer Wilson and Gretton a huge payout for The Happy Mondays and New Order only to find that they're free to join them anyway without having to pay Factory.
Steve Coogan is hilarious, partly for impersonating Wilson so well and partly because Wilson was so conceited anyway it'd be hard not to find him funny. The Wilson highlights include getting caught by his first wife getting a blowjob from a hooker in the back of a transit Van. "It's not how it looks love." She runs off upset. Wilson turns to the hooker and says " Can you finish me off?" Minutes later he catches said wife screwing a singer in the toilets of the club. " I only got a blow job. That's full penetration."
The first half of the film is much better than the final act. The Ian Curtis segment is gritty and upsetting. Winterbottom captures the essence of that time well and ends with Anton Corbijn's stunning black and white video for Atmosphere. The second and final acts start with the creation of The Hacienda and rise of the rave scene. We are introduced to The Happy Mondays' Shaun and Paul Ryder feeding poison to three thousand pidgeons. Bez is dropped into Little Hulton by a passing UFO. It's funny if you know the band. If you know how f**king lunatic they are. And again there's a nice sense of comradeship between Wilson and his friends. But here's where the film starts to cut corners. Big corners. It assumes that Wilson spearheaded everything and invented Madchester. Obviously he didn't. No one mentions The Stone Roses, although they weren't Factory Label mates it's still a huge oversight. Rob Gretton and New Order are left in the background throughout much of it and 24 Hr Party People finally becomes a very funny VH1 Behind the Music.
That's my only real problem with the film. It should've been a Trainspotting. It should've been relevant to people outside of Manchester, outside of that time. It isn't. It paints the scene by numbers using Wilson as a tour guide. Why didn't the filmmakers choose a real third party for us to view these events? A boy or girl caught up in the time. Maybe following a band like The Roses or The Mondays. This film is very cliquey. It should've been a wake up call. Saturday Night, Sunday Morning with Sally Cinnamon playing over the soundtrack. As it is Party People is just an ordinary good film which excludes key facts and marginalises the roles played by the women. There are so many important stories from the time. Too many to cram into one film maybe. Debrorah Curtis' Book is one. Madchester is another. But Wilson's story isn't what I would've chosen to give the film a life.
Reni
