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24 Hour Party People Review
By admin | August 14, 2009
24 Hour Party People Trailer
24 Hour Party People Review
Studio: MGM
Genre: Comedy
Aspect Ratio: Widescreen 1.85:1
Screen Format: Anamorphic - Enhanced for 16×9 viewing
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Exposure: Color
Running Time 117 minutes
Rating: Rated R
Release Year: 2002
COMMENTS
Do you remember the music scene that exploded out of Manchester in the early Eighties? For a brief period of time, bands like Joy Division, the Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays whispered in the ears and shaped the minds of young people all over the world. They gave birth to new wave, techno, “alternative” music and the rave culture as we now know it. As the fine film “24 Hour Party People” makes clear, if you do remember any of that then you’re one step ahead of those who created the scene only to spend most of their decade and a half of relevance in a drug-addled stupor.
Bold, infectious and original, Michael Winterbottom’s film drops you into the middle of their world in a manner reminiscent of “Saving Private Ryan”. While the two films are obviously quite different, the comparison is an apt one because both tell a fictional story using a documentary paintbrush on a historically accurate canvas. What results is the best of both worlds - the total immersion of a documentary without the lack of story that often comes along with people onscreen making up their own dialogue.
That combination of simulation and sincerity, in addition to a narrative gimmick that has the bands’ label owner speaking directly to the audience with the wisdom of present-day reflection, makes “24 Hour Party People” a fun, unorthodox ride. If simply reading the name Ian Curtis immediately queues up the infectious chorus of “Love Will Tear Us Apart” in your brain, then you have no excuse to not see this movie. Then again, even if you thought I was referring to the music scene in a New Hampshire town at the beginning of this review, you still might want to give it a try.
“24 Hour Party People” was one of my picks for the most underrated gems of last year, a film that may well be remembered for launching both an unusual form of story narration and the American career of the talented Steve Coogan. While the film itself is presented quite well, however, one can’t help but get the feeling that the extras were compiled as more of a mandatory obligation than a desire to expand the story beyond what was released theatrically. While the movie could be recommended to anyone, raiding a wallet for more than the DVD rental price is advised only to hardcore fans of the Manchester sound.
SYNOPSIS
It’s 1976 and TV journalist Tony Wilson, thinking he’s attending another amateur hour, stumbles into one of the first public appearances by the Sex Pistols. Watching the furious foursome kick, spit and slash away their aggressions, Wilson senses a “dare to be great” situation. “There were thirty-odd people there,” Wilson tells the camera, “but how many people were at the Last Supper?”
The Cambridge educated entrepreneur, who’s more likely to wield a seven-syllable word than a clenched fist, decides right then and there to start up a record label. Calling it Factory Records, Wilson and his partners pledge a new era in the “D.I.Y.” punk mentality, one that will find bands and labels working together in peaceful harmony as they strive for their artistic best. Working on handshakes and smiles, Factory soon signs its first band, an eccentric group of young boys named after World War II inmates who were forced to prostitute themselves for the enjoyment of Nazi soldiers.
This band was Joy Division, the next logical progression for punk - talented musicians who incorporated synthesizers and haunting melodies with their fury. They were still bitter, but they weren’t quite so loud and spontaneous, and the kids ate it up. “Party People” allows us to come along for the glories of the band’s inception, the bitter in-fighting that inevitably followed success, and the tragic suicide of JD frontman Curtis. The lead singer’s end is just the beginning of our tale, however, as Wilson keeps striking gold with new bands and a decadent nightclub he dubs The Hacienda.
As the Eighties roll on, Wilson falls into the same rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle that his bands so gleefully pursue. As everything from “Behind the Music” to “Boogie Nights” has told us, the sex and the drugs always catch up in the end. But have you ever seen a film where the protagonist keeps a running commentary going as his life is torn to shreds? Actor Steve Coogan (the upcoming Jackie Chan film Around the World in 80 Days) is positively brilliant as the anchor of the film, standing in the middle of all this chaos while uttering self-conscious lines like: “I’m being postmodern, before it’s fashionable.” The actor effortlessly doles out humor, disgust, drama and pathos like a supermarket employee dispensing free morsels of food. By the time the man’s world inevitably comes crashing down, the investment is more than most documentaries would be able to achieve, and the realism more potent than most fictional accounts could muster.
IMAGE
The visual strengths of this DVD are enough to allow you to forget that you’re watching a movie - nearly as high a compliment as you can pay for a film of this type. Like the movie itself, the disk makes you feel as though you’re there to witness real (albeit prettier) history unfolding. “Party People” isn’t the type of film that will have you marveling at its visual innovations, but there’s certainly nothing here that will distract you from enjoying the look of the film.
SOUND
A sparkling 5.1 Dolby Digital surround serves up ear candy for anyone who fondly remembers such songs as “Otis” by Durutti Column, “Transmission” by Joy Division or 808 State’s sax and synthesizer classic “Pacific State”. The dialogue tracks are crisp and audible, even during the numerous club and concert scenes.
FEATURES
The disk opens with a cool, understated menu design. A simple, black and white photo of Coogan as Tony Wilson stares out at you, contrasted by a color-drenched background. A Muzak version of New Order’s “Blue Monday” plays you into your selection of audio setup, subtitles, features, or scene chapters. The latter of those has the nifty visual of a DJ’s turntable, with a scene popping up on each of the record players.
Unfortunately, the gimmick makes it hard to navigate the scene selections, and if you dare to try and return to the main menu you’ll find your finger getting sore from repeatedly attempting to highlight the appropriate field.
When you click on “Special Features”, you get whisked away to video of Coogan saying “Welcome to Manchester!” as he looks up into your choices. Nice touch. “About Tony Wilson” is a humorous and informative interview-fest featuring the actors from the film, along with the real Wilson. Coogan says of his character: “Wilson wasn’t instrumental in the music that came from Manchester, but he was always there when it seemed to be happening. He was like a “Where’s Waldo” figure.” Repeatedly insisting he isn’t the vain, snobby jerk the movie frequently makes him out to be, Wilson concedes: “To make this film work, there would have to be a degree of taking the piss out of me. They keep saying it’s affectionate, but I think that’s bullocks.” Watching him profess his rectitude alone is proof that the film is more accurate than he’ll admit, and that makes the short film a lot of fun to watch.
More of the same protesting fills out Wilson’s audio track, but there’s no reason to spend two hours of your life listening to it when you can hear his message loud and clear (and briefer) in the documentary. Slightly more enjoyable but just as uninformative is the other commentary by Coogan and Producer Andrew Eaton. Leave them off and just watch the movie.
Speaking of a waste of time, the deleted scenes on the disk offer virtually nothing for even the biggest fans of the film. The first two, entitled “Happy Mondays Fight” and “Game of Pool”, seemingly intended to go side-by-side, reinforce a point made perfectly clear in the movie as-is: the Mondays were a walking disaster. The way they’re presented in the film, however, leaves them as endearing as they are irresponsible - these two scenes of them swearing and brawling are pointless and not even worth watching as curiosities.
“Lost in Car” is really scraping the barrel of what can be considered a deleted scene - it’s footage of Coogan driving in a car with some associates, them all bitching at each other as they get lost. What’s worse is that the audio isn’t even complete, leaving silence in places where we should hear Coogan speaking. If MGM were going to put the scene on the DVD, you’d think restoring the audio would just be common sense.
The next “bonus” scene, “Taking Drugs”, is exactly as titled, creepily watching an actor inject heroin into himself - no dialogue at all. “About to Flower” is a brief scene of nothingness. Things begin to pick up with “Blue Monday Alternate Take” simply because the song is so inherently catchy that even listening to the Osmonds sing it would still be tolerable. “Wheel of Fortune”, which has Coogan hosting an episode of the popular show and slipping into a tirade about how his friends keep screwing him over, is good for a laugh.
Those two are the only scenes worth checking out in the eleven - “Supporting a Useless Football Team” shows Coogan looking uncomfortable at a soccer match, “Chasing City Fans” is an irrelevant scene of people running down the street after each other, “Special Tea” is another, weaker take on “Blue Monday” and “The Hacienda Factor” is decent at best. The desolation of these scenes goes to show you how important the narration is to uniting the film - without that groundbreaking gimmick the whole movie might have seemed this pointless.
The subtitles come in your choice of English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, but the audio choices are limited only to the English track.