THE TRUE STORY OF THE BIRTH OF THE "24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE"

This, my dearies is for all “I was born too late” generation out there. It’s a brand of music popular with people born in the ‘70s really, but us, the early ‘80s generation just about caught onto its tail. And of course, there are some exceptional young people out there (although not that many these days) who recognise the genius of bands such as the Sex Pistols. Joy Division. James and the Happy Mondays (although this last band was a bit of a British phenomenon. Still.). Anyway, this is their story. The true story of the Manchester music scene in the ‘80s and ‘90s and more pivotally, of the one man who made that magical atmosphere possible : Tony Wilson.

Tony Wilson (played nothing short of brilliantly by Steve Coogan) is a journalist. A Cambridge graduate, he has high hopes of his life. The stories he is sent out to cover do not always match these expectations. Except one. One event that will change his life – and in fact the lives of many others. Now, the event in question is the first concert the Sex Pistols ever played in Manchester. This was back in the late ‘70s, before they actually took off you have to remember, so there were only 42 people there. Now, this looks more like a flop than a historical moment, I know. But as Wilson points out throughout the film, whether it’s crowded or not does not necessarily mean it’s not historical (I love his metaphors so I’ll let you discover them for yourselves).  So Wilson’s life changes. He opens a club. A record label. Signs bands like Joy Division and the Happy Mondays. Thus begins an absolute whirlwind of a night job for Wilson. His style is both unorthodox and not entirely sound economically. The changes he makes to the Manchester music scene however? Ground breaking.  The question is, does he have the stamina to see this whirlwind to the end? Or will the only end he actually sees end up being his own?

This film is brilliant on so many levels. Director Michael Winterbottom – and I’m sure Coogan as well as he’s quite the master of formats and such like – has made a film a bit unlike any other I have seen before. First of all, especially at the beginning – and I’m rather sad they didn’t follow through on this tendency but can see how it would be impractical – the film’s footage is interspersed very cleverly with actual footage of the great bands of the time singing. There are a lot of references to real life, a lot of celebrities of yesteryear (including, amusingly, Wilson himself – the real one that is - , don’t worry about missing him though, he gets pointed out to you) have cameos. It is very evidently a very affectionate film made by a crew that loved that music and / or that era. What is also original and  good, however, is the fact that Coogan will, every now and then, turn to the camera and explain what is going on. Not as Wilson though. As Coogan. It’s a brilliant device, a sort of Brechtian distanciation that pushes us to think about what we’re watching, and the fact that it is not actually fiction. Well the film is fiction, but you know what I mean, the events really happened. Most of the time. But don’t worry, Mr Coogan will explain that to you as well…

A JOURNEY OF REDISCOVERY... TO "GENOVA"

While watching Genova, I was struck by how closely related the art of painting and the art of cinema are… Not necessarily in the physical sense either, I mean sure, films are made up of a series of pictures, 24 frames per minute, but that is not what I mean, even though the photography in Genova is simply amazing… Some films sort of suck you up into them and you “live” the adventure with the hero. Others are like a beautiful painting. They unfold before your eyes and you watch moved, astounded or however you feel at the time… Michael Winterbottom’s Genova is one of these films. Unique and simply beautiful.
Oscar ® nominee Colin Firth stars as university lecturer Joe, who is faced with major trauma and life decisions to make after his wife dies, leaving him with his two young daughters. The suffering of the family is great and the house full of memories so Joe decides that a clean page is what everyone needs for this “new” life they are faced with… So, he packs their things, finds a good teaching job and settles his young family in Genova. The historical and sunny Italian city is as far as can be from their previous lives in the States. With the help of friends (double Oscar ®nominee Catherine Keener among others) all starts off pretty smoothly, but the family will have their ups and downs (older sister Kelly spending more and more time with her new boyfriend and neglecting her younger sister, while her little sister claims to be communicating with her dead mother’s ghost…) But Genova is mainly a story of looking for a way of moving on. A fresh start in the true meaning of the word.
It is, in my view, a bit of a gamble to make a film like this, unless of course you are Michael Winterbottom and you know the film is very well directed indeed . If you don’t let yourself go with the balmy, Mediterranean flow of the movie and lose yourself in the exquisite details, you may well find the film boring. A film for a certain kind of person, or a certain frame of mind maybe. And then again, not everyone is into painting either, but that doesn’t lessen anything of say Monet’s paintings does it?... :)