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24-Hour Party People

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Village Vidiot

Both Bronwen and I liked this interesting look at the Manchester England punk/new wave scene of the late 1976-late 1980s. Seen through the eyes of the Tony Wilson, Granada-tv interviewer, smug elitist intellectual, and rock host turned impresario (he himself minimizes his role as anything but facilitator), it chronicles the emergence of indie rock, punk from the Sex Pistols on, New Wave with a focus on Joy Division and New Order, and rave culture, the craziness of the scene, and the culture that drove it as it split between fascism and anarchism. Creating a living laboratory around the Factory label and collective, live music, dj and disco culture, and recording itself, they flew very close to the sun with extremes based on sex, drugs, and rock and roll. This was a really fun movie to watch for the first 2/3 and then the pacing gets a tad weirder and rockier, and the scene much less benign. In that transition, the film becomes less pleasant, but always remains interesting. Gang warfare and drug abuse joined to poor business sense drove the band of stoned characters to suicide, alcoholism, and bankruptcy but the ride is wild and the music is great. Lots of very intelligent people speaking their thoughts with clarity in this piece as well, it is everything that rock criticism is not in the United States. It also shows remarkable naivety regarding anarchism from some remarkably sophisticated people. Quite a shock that. Well worth watching

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