24 Hour Party People | Review

Winterbottom drums up the right beat.

A little bit after the Fab Four from the Liverpool, the Stones, The Who and the rest of the British invasion there was another movement- an additional progressive shift in the music scene-perhaps not the world music scene-but the one coming out from a place called Manchester. Forget about the football team-this part of the U.K was probably manufacturing some of best music of that era, grant you that the Sex Pistols were a little musically challenged but all the same the vibe was different and perhaps innovative. Grant you I never picked up a guitar let alone a guitar pic, – but somehow this stuff made an impression during my formidable teenage years in the mid 80’s.

The opening of the film is quite hilarious;-our reporter on assignment gives us his rendition of evil knievel as he takes to the air in a hand-glider. When he talks back to the camera and talks off camera we get a swift jubilation of how this character will take us on a guided tour of rock and roll history. Surprisingly, the film breaks one important code in filmmaking- to have the character address the camera, but our star reporter is not only a witness-he is a personal history teacher who footnotes all the events that take place, – which would otherwise be a series of meaningless experiences are actually the ground breaking earth diggings and great finds of the music industry.

Michael Winterbottom’s 24 Hour Party People is a film about grooves, youth and music. It’s about ripping posters of the wall and changing them for the next nouvelle vague in adolescent tune listening, it’s about a bunch of people getting a personal electric charge from hearing a band play in the most run-down of venues, it’s about the bands, the music and the performances. What adds an even more interesting perspective to this is that the recording executive Tony Wilson is not a fictitious character but was an actual person a face on the evening news and a player on the music scene as well. Inspired by a miniature Sex Pistols concert with an attendance of 42 people- we watch these bands play from one corner of Manchester to another. The digital photography- with seductive off-centre shots help in creating a fly on the wall effect giving the viewer a personal view and a narrative bird’s eye view of the many things to come. What photographer Robby Müller also creates are some neat transitions between establishing shots and actual concert footage-these image are synced together becoming an important element in defining the scene for the viewer. I also liked the little touch of having the added intertitles of the group names; it was just like looking at the back cover of a Best of…Manchester LP. But apart from this, the acting from Steve Coogan is quite good. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if he has trouble getting roles after the picture-I’m sure that even the real Wilson would say he played himself better than he would. I liked how this character is this unsophisticated business man whose practices allow his bands to have complete artistic freedom and draws up his contracts in blood. He force may not have been as a manager and record producing but he had an eye for finding talent such as Joy Division, Happy Mondays and New Order. But no one is perfect as he explains-his missed opportunity at not signing The Smiths is an interesting and funny affirmation.

Like in his other films, (Welcome to Sarajevo-1997 and The Claim-2000, Winterbottom’s subjects are real-life subjects-which accounts for already half the fascination-but unlike his other films-these characters here are dynamic and interesting. The film might not necessarily move you for the film’s entire run time- but there is a little something of everything to get off to. If you reminisce to the words, the lyrics, the attitude or music from this period, – then this is enough of a basis for you to enjoy the most exciting film about music since Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and the best part about it is that you don’t necessarily have a concert t-shirt among the clothes in your closet to be a fan.

Rating 3 stars