24 Hour Party People (2002)
Although I'm a big fan of punk and
new wave, I have to admit that the majority of the
bands featured here, like Joy Division and Happy Mondays,
are only blips on my radar screen. I don't know that
much about them. This film, which purports to be about
Tony Wilson, the man who discovered them and, in fact,
seemingly created the whole Manchester Music Scene,
does little for the uninitiated.
Wilson, and I'm going by what the
film purports here, not by any factual knowledge I
have, was and is a British TV personality who hosted
a punk rock video show in the late 70's. He later
opened a nightclub featuring live music and then started
a record label to record the bands he had booked.
This all began in the late 70's during the punk and
new wave movement. In the 80's, his club, The Hacienda,
became one of the very first big dance clubs in England.
Wilson did all of this without ever signing a contract
with anyone (with one notable exception that is discussed
in the film). All the while, he also maintained his
gig as a TV personality at Granada TV.
It is obvious from the beginning
of the film that director Michael Winterbottom is
trying to be edgy. His opening credits are jumpy and
virtually unintelligible as the text is done in such
a jumbled and color-soaked, artsy-fartsy way. In fact,
they look like they could have been created by some
college freshman recently enamoured with 8mm film
"art." This sets-up the film to appear as a cinematic
"poseur." It desperately wants us to believe it is
hip and cool and does everything in its power to convince
us so. We are wiser.
Artsy credits, jumpy camera work,
quick cut editing and cool costumes do not a film
make. Story does. And the story here is a muddled
mess, seemingly told from the notes of an ex- coke
head. Oh, wait, that's apparently exactly what it
is. Frank Cottrell Boyce, who often writes for Winterbottom,
has solo screen writing credit here. But the film
has Tony Wilson in it (doing a cameo) and is surely
based on his own reminiscences. I haven't read much
hype about the film but Boyce must have surely spent
some time with Wilson taking notes for the script.
No source novel is mentioned in the credits.
Boyce's worst device is having Wilson
(as played by British TV comedian Steve Coogan) talk
to the camera as a sort of narrator/host of the film.
Not only a tired device, it's just plain lazy. The
idea is that since Wilson was/is sort of a TV personality
who talks to the camera when he does human interest/lifestyle
pieces, this device should carry into the film. It
gets annoying and is relatively unimportant. The only
thing that makes it work at all is Coogan's charm
and dead-on perfection as an actor. Plus he has a
lovely voice and accent. It's no surprise he has done
lots of voicework for animation in his native land.
Winterbottom is obviously in trouble
from the get-go when he begins to mix archival footage
(of a Sex Pistols show) with new footage (of Coogan
as Wilson in the audience at the show). It doesn't
work and the effect is obvious and defeating. All
of this, along with Wilson's narration/hosting, only
serves to remind you that you're watching a movie
about a guy and not any sort of real story. Later
on there are several clips of bands on Coogan's, er,
I mean Wilson's, TV show like Iggy Pop, Souixie and
the Banshees and such. Although this is cool as this
footage seems relatively obscure, it consistently
reminds you that you wish you were watching a documentary.
This desire continues when it becomes obvious that
it is going to be just about impossible to keep up
with what's going on in the film or keep track of
who is who. Again, if you know the story already,
it might be easier, but for the uninitiated, it is
like a continually moving blur.
Still, it's hard to deny the charm
of Coogan and the occassionally glimmer of a story
you've heard a little something about. Joy Division
singer Ian Curtis' suicide, for example, was the highlight
of the film for me (as a story, of course) because
I had heard about it and understood what was trying
to be conveyed. Winterbottom was less successful,
to me anyway, when he tried to convey things that
I knew nothing about. And Boyce's device of having
Coogan tell me what it was about only irritated the
film critic in me who simply hates narration. (Fassbinder's
"Querelle" will kill the acceptance of the technique
of narration in anyone who views it, I guarantee.
I saw it almost 10 years ago).
Remember the TV show "Remote Control"
on MTV? I hated that show. Why? Because it was such
a sloppy, out of control, seemingly unorganized and
disjointed event that appeared designed only to jangle
the nerves of anyone over 18. I understand why some
people liked it, but I'm more of a "Jeopardy" man
myself. That kind of explains why I disliked this
film, even though I see it has many things going for
it; it was like looking at a fingerpainting when I
wanted to see a Warhol.
Note:
Also known as "Madchester."
Scenes with actors playing Morrissey
and The Smiths were shot but didn't make it into the
film. In the film's ending, Wilson mentions something
about the fact that he probably should have signed
the Smiths.
Some minor, casual on-line reading
has lead me to believe that some of what is in the
film is more myth then reality. Coogan, as Wilson,
even comments on this, in a rather enigmatic way,
in the film itself.
