35) 24 Hour Party People
Year: 2002
Plot Summary: Manchester 1976: Cambridge educated Tony Wilson, a Granada TV presenter, is inspired by a Sex Pistols gig to set up a record label with him and his friends. The label, Factory Records, went on to sign seminal artists of their time from Joy Division to the Happy Mondays.
"I'm a minor character in my own story, this film is about the music," says Tony Wilson in 24 Hour Party People. Nothing could be more true. This biopic of the legendary journalist and record label owner does revolve around Wilson, but the movie is a celebration of music, from punk to dance, and one of the most important places for it between the 70s and 80s: Manchester.
Living near Manchester, it surprised me how authentic the film looked and sounded. While some representations of Manchester we've seen in films are terribly inaccurate, everyone in the 24 Hour Party People felt like someone you would encounter on this city's streets. The people had the same humour, the dialogue was perfect and the look of the place made you really feel like you are there.
This realism is certainly enforced by Winterbottom's documentary like style in the film. In many cases, in fact, I found it hard to tell if some of what we saw was stock footage or if it was all shot by the director. Winterbottom's style even helps to complement the music in the film. Watching it almost feels the same as listening to Joy Division, The Clash or The Sex Pistols' songs with it's electric, messy and anarchistic tone.
But he isn't the only one deserving praise here. Frank Cottrell Boyce, who wrote the film, has created one of the most original, engrossing and laugh out loud hilarious screenplays I've seen in British cinema for years. His dialogue is very realistic as characters overlap what each other is saying, people don't finish sentences and conversations never feel forced or rehearsed, but it's also very beautiful in a subtle way.
Tony Wilson is spectacularly performed by the hit-or-miss Steve Coogan. He's not the hero of the story by any means; he's presented as both the cool, loyal, iconic Wilson who brought the Manchester music scene to the international audience and played a huge part in revolutionising the industry, and as the absent father, unfaithful boyfriend, celebrity obsessed and totally arrogant man he was. But Coogan isn't the only actor worth mentioning as he is surrounded with one of the greatest ensembles of British actors I have ever seen on screen. Everyone from Rob Brydon, Andy Serkis and Simon Pegg to Paddy Considine, Shirley Henderson and Peter Kay appear in the movie to add their talents and play their roles very well.
Some will argue their characters could be more developed, but 24 Hour Party People isn't a film about the characters as the aforementioned quote suggests. This is pretty unique for a film and very unconventional. In fact, very little about it is! For example, on a number of occasions it breaks the fourth wall as Wilson talks to the audience. It's a trick that has been done a few times before, but never have I seen a film where the character points out real life celebrities who appear in the film (including the real Tony Wilson himself), explains events that are about to happen and, in the opening scene, stops to explain the symbolism that is occurring.
It's an essential viewing for anyone who loves music and is interested in its history and a surprisingly brilliant portrait of the Manchester scene through the eyes of its icon. As Rob Gretton says in the film's last line when Wilson says he saw God, 24 Hour Party People is "f**king top gear man!"
4/5
1 comments:
It was alright. It's style wasn't believable for a biopic, but as a film it's alright.
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