POWERLINE A.D.

DVD REVIEWS

MUSIC DVD REVIEW
Oasis: Lord Don’t Slow Me Down
Feature directed and filmed by Baillie Walsh
Concert video directed by Dick Carruthers

Review by John Curley

In 2005, Oasis embarked on a lengthy world tour in support of their studio release Don’t Believe The Truth. Baillie Walsh’s film, Lord Don’t Slow Me Down, documents that tour, both on stage and off. 

Lord Don’t Slow Me Down, which was shown theatrically in the UK last year, features no narration and was mostly shot in black and white. For the most part, the film focuses on Oasis’ two remaining original members—the Gallagher brothers (lead singer Liam and guitarist/vocalist Noel). The Gallaghers are shown participating in radio interviews in several different countries (there is a somewhat funny bit in which Noel is mistakenly identified as Liam by a DJ during an interview on an Italian radio station) as well as interacting with the other band members, staff, and fans. The other band members—guitarist Gem Archer and bassist Andy Bell—are barely heard from in the film. The touring band also included keyboardist Jay Darlington and drummer Zak Starkey. (Starkey, the son of former Beatle Ringo Starr, is also The Who’s current drummer.)

Lord Don’t Slow Me Down has the feel of a series of outtakes that would usually wind up as DVD Extras. Unfortunately, this method doesn’t really work in a feature-length format. While the film does have its interesting bits (some of the profanity-laced banter between the Gallagher brothers, Oasis’ Madison Square Garden debut, scenes from their triumphant homecoming gig in Manchester, Liam’s birthday party, and some funny interactions with Japanese journalists among them), it does not work as a whole. There are just too many parts where the film drags. Oasis completists will probably want to own the film, but it is definitely not something for the casual fan.

Extras on the main feature include audio commentary from the Gallagher brothers, Gem Archer, and Andy Bell. There is also an audio Q&A with Noel Gallagher that plays over outtakes from the film.

The second disc of the set features the Manchester concert mentioned above, and it makes the DVD set worthwhile. The concert film, directed by Dick Carruthers, was shot on July 2, 2005 at the City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England, the Gallagher brothers’ hometown. The concert was held at that location because the stadium is home to the Gallaghers’ favorite soccer team, Manchester City FC of England’s Premier League.

The concert disc features 16 tracks, mixing Oasis classics such as “Cigarettes & Alcohol,” “Live Forever,” “Wonderwall,” “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star,” and “Don’t Look Back In Anger” with the material from the Don’t Believe The Truth album. The show closes with a searing take on The Who’s Mod anthem “My Generation.”

The concert got off to a rocky start, as opening number “Turn Up The Sun” had to be abandoned and then restarted as a barrier at the front was knocked down and had to be put back in place. The film of the Manchester show does provide a glimpse of the euphoria that greets Oasis live shows in their native England. For whatever reason, the band has not come close to replicating that excitement and interest on this side of the Atlantic. Using many quick cuts from the band to the audience and back again, the film highlights the power of an Oasis live gig. They are a sensational live band. And say what you will about the arrogance of Liam Gallagher. But that very arrogance works for him in a live setting. There are quite a few shots of him standing stock still, staring at the audience and basking in their adulation as the band roars on behind him.

The concert DVD makes the Lord Don’t Slow Me Down set a valuable addition to the Oasis live DVDs that have been released in the past. Extras on the concert DVD include video and still photos from fans who attended the concert. Most of the fan video is unwatchable as it is poorly recorded cell-phone footage.

A book of photos from the film is also included in the DVD package.

Baillie Walsh’s Lord Don’t Slow Me Down feature film clocks in at 100 minutes while the Manchester concert runs 95 minutes. The DVD set is not rated but does include a considerable amount of profanity (mostly uttered by Liam and Noel Gallagher).
 

FILM DVD REVIEW

THIS IS ENGLAND
Written and directed by Shane Meadows
Starring Thomas Turgoose, Jo Hartley, Joseph Gilgun, Stephen Graham, Andrew Shim, Vicky McClure, Chanel Cresswell, and Rosamund Hanson

Review by John Curley

Set in Nottingham, England of 1983, This Is England tells the tale of a 12-year-old boy named Shaun (Thomas “Tommo” Turgoose). Devastated by the loss of his father the previous year in the Falklands War and bullied at school, Shaun is searching for both answers and a father figure. Shaun thinks he’s found both when he is befriended by a group of likable skinheads led by Woody (Joseph Gilgun).

Shaun soon immerses himself in the skinhead lifestyle, insisting on a pair of Doc Martens when a female shoe salesperson tries to sell his mother a pair of knockoff boots and letting Woody’s girlfriend Lol (Vicky McClure) shave his head. Shaun is both pleased and moved when Woody presents him with a Ben Sherman shirt to wear with his braces (suspenders), jeans, and boots. Shaun’s mother, Cynth (Jo Hartley), permits Shaun to spend time with his new, older skinhead friends because he had told her that Woody had helped him with the bullying problem at school. Being a protective mother, though, Cynth does scold Lol for shaving Shaun’s head without asking her permission first.

The time of good feeling quickly disappears when Woody’s old friend, a violent, racist skinhead called Combo (Stephen Graham) returns from a three-year stretch in prison. While Woody and most of his friends seem to view the skinhead lifestyle as more or less a fashion thing, Combo immerses himself in the most radical, and reviled, elements of certain factions skinhead culture, such as violent racism and interest in the National Front.

Combo literally draws a line on the floor (with his own spit) and demands that those who are with him cross the line and that those who aren’t, leave. Woody, Lol, and their Anglo-Jamaican friend, Milky (Andrew Shim), who is obviously upset at the racial angle that Combo’s dialogue takes, leave. They try to take Shaun with them, but he refuses to go. Combo promises to watch out for Shaun. Reluctantly, they leave Shaun behind.

Combo and Shaun form quite a duo from this point on, with Combo even bringing Shaun to a National Front meeting that takes place in a pub seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Combo tells Shaun that looking at him is like looking at a mirror image of himself 20 years’ previous. Shaun buys into Combo’s rhetoric, oddly believing that he is honoring his father’s sacrifice by following in Combo’s demented footsteps.

Stephen Graham delivers a tour de force performance as Combo. One can really sense the menace of Combo in nearly every scene that he’s in. There is one scene in particular that stands out. Combo, Shaun, and the others encounter three young Pakistani boys innocently kicking a soccer ball around in the street. Combo pulls a knife on one of them and threatens to slash him if he ever comes across the boy again. The scene is extremely well played, and the fear generated by Combo feels quite real.

When Combo tells Lol that the night they spent together was the greatest night of his life and that the memory of it helped sustain him through his three years in prison, she brings him back to reality by reminding him that she was only 16 at the time and very drunk, and tells him that that night was the worst night of her life. Lol’s rejection of Combo sends him into a tailspin which results in an incredibly violent episode that breaks apart his band of budding racists.

This Is England was Thomas Turgoose’s first film, and he shines in the role of young Shaun. Turgoose was not a professional actor, which was one of the reasons he was chosen for the role. Turgoose is a natural, and completely believable in the role of Shaun. The scenes that Shaun has with his 16-year-old girlfriend, Smell (Rosamund Hanson), have a genuine sweetness and awkwardness to them.

Writer/director Shane Meadows allegedly loosely based This Is England on his own childhood, when he claims he was “adopted” by a band of skinheads. The film does have a very real and gritty feel to it, and it captures the time period perfectly. The “Maggie is a twat” graffiti on a wall of the Church of Christ in the film is a nice touch.

The DVD contains several extras, including: Deleted Scenes; The Making of This Is England; An interview with Shane Meadows; Commentary by Meadows, Turgoose, and Producer Mark Herbert; Darrell Buxton’s essay Skinhead Culture: Cropped. Braced & Booted; Another Darrell Buxton essay, The Falklands: A Pathetic War; and the Theatrical Trailer.

While the deleted scenes included on the DVDs of most films are usually throwaway material, the deleted scenes on the This Is England DVD are not. In fact, inclusion of some of the deleted scenes would have made a great film even better. One of the deleted scenes is the absolutely priceless first meeting between Shaun’s mother, Cynth, and his girlfriend, Smell. While a scene between Cynth and Smell in Cynth’s kitchen is included in the main feature (Smell explains the origin of her nickname to Cynth), it would have been given better context had the initial meeting scene been included in the film. Another deleted scene, titled “Long Walk Home,” was really beautifully done, and it is stunning that it was cut from the film. In the scene, Shaun leaves Combo after the violent episode mentioned above and walks home through the streets of Nottingham alone. The scene provides the feeling that Shaun knows that his life will be changing again, and that a sociopath like Combo will no longer be part of his circle of friends. The quality of these and some of the other deleted scenes makes one wish that a Director’s Cut of the film had been released on DVD.

In addition to being a great film, This Is England also features a stellar soundtrack. Among the artists whose songs are heard in the film are Toots and the Maytalls, The Specials, Ian Dury, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, and Soft Cell.

The film is not rated but does include a considerable amount of profanity, some racist language, and one scene of extreme violence. It is 103 minutes in length.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

MUSIC DVD REVIEW

Amazing Journey:
The Story of The Who

Directed by Murray Lerner

Review by John Curley

Before I begin this review, I must admit that I am biased when it comes to The Who. I have been a fan of the group for years, since the age of 14 when I saw a clip of the band destroying their gear at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. I took one look at that clip and thought, “Yeah, this is the group for me.” Hearing the Quadrophenia album for the first time shortly thereafter was a revelatory experience. Quadrophenia was my Bible throughout my teenage years, and the prophets that I followed were four snot-nosed, arrogant geezers from Shepherd’s Bush, London. If you can accept my bias when reading this review, then by all means read on. If not . . . well, why don’t you f-f-f-fade away?

The main feature of the Amazing Journey DVD collection tells the basic story of The Who. The early years of the band are covered quite well, and there is a plethora of rare video and film footage to aid in telling the tale. The later years are not treated as kindly. The post-Who’s Next years go by in a blur. One of my favorite Who albums, The Who By Numbers, barely gets a mention.

As this film is obviously aimed at Who fans, I’m somewhat surprised that the main feature is so basic. Most Who fans have at least some knowledge about the formative years of the band. The rare footage makes it worth owning, however. I had no idea that film of The Who’s February 1970 concert at Leeds, England (which became the famous Live At Leeds album) even existed. Yet it turns up in the film. Footage of The Who recording their “Pictures of Lily” single in 1966 is included, and it is a joy to watch. There is also a lot of great footage of Keith Moon performing with the band in concert. I can never get enough of watching Moon ply his trade. He was a phenomenally talented drummer and performer. The Who have been a shadow of themselves since Moon’s untimely demise at age 32 in 1978.

While the interviews with Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, and Who manager Bill Curbishley are quite interesting, I can’t say the same for some of the others, notably Sting and Noel Gallagher. There doesn’t seem to be reason for the Sting and Noel Gallagher segments apart from calling attention to the fact that The Who have inspired many other musicians.

I found the second DVD, Amazing Journey: Six Quick Ones, to be much more interesting. It features lengthier segments about Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, Pete Townshend, and Keith Moon. All four were really well done. The instrumental techniques of Entwistle, Townshend, and Moon were discussed and analyzed. The comments from U2’s The Edge about Pete Townshend’s guitar techniques were particularly fascinating. Viewers not interested in the technical aspect of music might find such discussions boring (which is probably why they were left off the main feature). Still, anybody interested in knowing about how The Who’s sound came to be will get a lot out of it.

The Six Quick Ones DVD also features a segment about the influence of pop art on the band. Townshend’s comments about how viewing films featuring auto destruction during his art school years influenced the onstage instrument demolition in The Who’s early years were quite revelatory. Also included on the second DVD is a short feature about the 2003 recording session for The Who’s “Real Good Looking Boy.” The scenes of discussions between Daltrey and Townshend about the song and of Townshend directing drummer Zak Starkey provide a rare inside look on what a Who recording session is like. Again, this stuff is probably too ‘inside baseball’ for the casual fan but I found it to be fascinating.

The second DVD further includes something called “The Scrapbook,” which features: Who manager Bill Curbishley discussing a funny incident with an alcohol-sodden Keith Moon; a segment on the legal problems between The Who and their first producer Shel Talmy; Townshend on the inspiration for “Won’t Get Fooled Again”; Curbishley solemnly discussing the terrible tragedy of December 1979, when 11 Who fans were killed at a Cincinnati Who show; and Noel Gallagher discussing his appearance at a charity concert by The Who at Royal Albert Hall in 2000.

The best reason to buy the DVD set is an eight-minute clip that is on the second disc. It is a film of The Who back when they were known as The High Numbers performing at a gig at The Railway Hotel in London in 1964. The film was shot by Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp for what they hoped would be a feature film that would include The High Numbers. The film never was made but Lambert and Stamp ended up co-managing The Who through their peak years. The Railway Hotel film is pretty incredible. The band performs two songs in it. The film features the band performing as well as shots of London Mods dancing in the audience. What is really startling in the film is Roger Daltrey’s stage act. He’s wearing dark shades and affecting the voice of a veteran black blues singer. The film also highlights Moon’s magic on the drum kit. Moon was only 17 when the film was shot, but even at that young age, the genius behind his drumming was already evident.

The DVD sets that were sold through the US retailer Best Buy included a third DVD that contains a December 1979 concert from Chicago. It’s kind of an odd choice in that the Chicago concert took place only five days after the Cincinnati disaster. In addition, Townshend appears to be quite drunk during the show. It certainly isn’t his most flattering moment. Still, it’s a powerful, high-energy Who concert featuring the usual live staples like “Substitute,” “Baba O’Riley,” “I Can’t Explain,” and “Pinball Wizard.” The highlight of the Chicago 1979 DVD is an absolutely ferocious take on “The Punk and the Godfather.” The concert is not shown in its entirety, as some of the audio tracks were not complete.

As the Chicago show features Moon’s replacement, former Faces drummer Kenney Jones, many Who fans have complained bitterly that a full-length show featuring Moon should have been included as the third DVD. Reportedly, DVDs of The Who’s shows featuring Moon at the Kilburn State Theatre in London in 1977 (which was shot for but not used in the 1979 feature The Kids Are Alright) and at the London Coliseum in 1969 are being readied for release.

Hardcore Who fans shouldn’t expect to learn anything new from the DVDs, but they are quite entertaining. This is definitely a worthwhile collection to pick up, and it is a nice companion piece to the Special Edition DVD of The Kids Are Alright that was issued several years ago.

The main feature is two hours in length. The second DVD runs at one hour and 57 minutes. The Chicago 1979 DVD that is included with the Best Buy set clocks in at 93 minutes. The set is not rated.

The official Web site for the Amazing Journey DVD set is http://www.thewhomovie.com/.

FILM REVIEWS

FILM REVIEW
CONTROL
Directed by Anton Corbijn
Starring Sam Riley, Samantha Morton, and Alexandra Maria Lara

Review by John Curley

Shot in a pale black and white by first-time director Anton Corbijn, Control tells the tale of Ian Curtis, the tortured singer of the legendary Manchester, England post-punk band Joy Division. The film covers the last seven years of Curtis’ life. When we are introduced to Ian Curtis, he is 16 years old and still at school. Ian was already writing by that time and, as the film portrays, hugely influenced by David Bowie. Ian’s life appears to be somewhat carefree at the point. The film details how that carefree spirit slowly drained away, leading Curtis to commit suicide in May 1980 at age 23 on the day before Joy Division were due to fly from England to the United States for their first American tour.

This film is the second one to tell the tale of Joy Division. Their story had also been explored in Michael Winterbottom’s 2002 film 24 Hour Party People. That film, however, dealt with the Manchester music scene as a whole and focused on Tony Wilson, a Northwestern England TV personality and the head of Factory Records, the label to which Joy Division were signed. Wilson was played by comedian Steve Coogan in that film. In Control, the Wilson character is portrayed by Craig Parkinson.

Control—written by Matt Greenhalgh and adapted from Touching From a Distance by Deborah Curtis, Ian’s widow—provides a stirring portrait of how Ian Curtis became unwound. Married and a father at a young age, Ian, as portrayed by former 10,000 Things singer Sam Riley, is unsure of himself as both a husband and father. One scene is particularly telling toward that end. Ian arrives home and is greeted by his young daughter looking up at him from her playpen. The idea of fatherhood seems so overwhelming to him at that point that he bolts from the house. Earlier, he had quickly fled the delivery room shortly after his daughter was born. Ian’s wife, Deborah, fantastically played by Samantha Morton, clearly loves him but is at a loss as to how to get him to feel similarly about her. Macclesfield, England, the Curtis’ home, is portrayed as something of a gray, gloomy place, somewhere to escape from.

Ian’s romance with Annik Honoré, a Belgian fanzine writer portrayed by Alexandra Maria Lara, is one way in which he tries to escape from the pressures of marriage, fatherhood, and the band. Director Corbijn shot Lara in a way that made her very sexually appealing. Lara has very beautiful eyes and Corbijn uses them to full effect. You cannot take your eyes off of her when she is on the screen. The affair between Annik and Ian is portrayed in the film as light and fun at first but Ian pulls away a bit when Annik tells him that it worries her that she doesn’t know him well and wants to know more about him. She asks him to name his favorite color. Ian answers with “blue” but then clarifies that answer to “Man City blue.” Annik doesn’t know what Man City is and Ian is further frustrated by having to explain that Man City is Manchester City, the soccer club he supports whose home jerseys are light blue. It is a simple but effective scene that shows the distance between Annik and Ian. It’s not really made clear if Ian just viewed Annik as a sexual plaything, a bit on the side. Perhaps, in his tortured state of mind, Ian himself didn’t know.

The emotional tug of war in Ian’s mind between his wife and daughter, Annik, and the band is further exacerbated when he is diagnosed with epilepsy. When Ian has a fit while performing with the band, the audience doesn’t know how to react. They think that it’s part of the show. After a panic-stricken Ian bolts from the stage at another gig, the crowd riots. Later, sitting alone on stage in a hall filled with broken chairs and bottles littering the floor, Ian painfully admits to Tony Wilson, “I never meant for it to grow like this. I’ve no control anymore.” Ian goes on to say how he gives his all on stage and the crowd keeps wanting more and more. Ian is clearly a broken man at this point.

Sam Riley’s portrayal of Ian Curtis in Control is stunning. He totally inhabited the Ian Curtis character to the point where I’d imagine that it must have been difficult for him to shake off the character once filming ended. Samantha Morton’s turn as Deborah Curtis was equally memorable. She turned what could have been a thankless role as a wronged wife into a portrayal of heartbreak and sadness that will stay with you for a long time after viewing the film. Her screams of horror when finding Ian’s body are just gut wrenching, as are her desperate cries, when coming back outside of the house, of “Somebody please help me!” while clutching her young daughter in her arms. It’s an absolutely devastating scene to witness, and the monochrome film just adds to the bleakness and sorrow of the moment. (The hanging is not shown in the film, nor is Debroah’s discovery of Ian’s body; we hear her screams from outside the house.)

The music scenes in Control are played very well. Early in the film, there’s a scene in which Deborah and Ian attend a concert by the Sex Pistols in Manchester. Corbijn shows most of the crowd being very interested and involved in the show. Then, he shows Deborah and Ian. Deborah appears to be terrified by what she is seeing on stage. Ian, holding tight onto Deborah, seems transfixed, as if he can see the future. His future.

The concert scenes featuring the faux Joy Division are extremely well done. The actors really performed the music. (Besides Sam Riley as vocalist Ian Curtis, Joy Division were portrayed in the film by Joe Anderson as bassist Peter Hook, James Anthony Pearson as guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, and Harry Treadaway as drummer Stephen Morris.) The onstage segments really conveyed the excitement that the band was generating at the time. It was easy to see why the band had built up such a following and were about to tackle America when Ian hanged himself. Director Corbijn was a rock music and fashion photographer, and had worked a bit with the real Joy Division. Corbijn’s passion for rock music really does come through in the concert scenes. They are exhilarating.

Overall, Control is an excellent film. It is difficult to watch at points, particularly the last third of the film in which Ian begins to completely unravel. But it is worth watching, as it is beautifully done and doesn’t take many liberties with the real story.

(Control is 121 minutes in length and is Rated R)

The official Web site for Control is at http://www.control-movie.com/.

A podcast of a Q&A session with Control’s Sam Riley that was recorded at Film Forum in New York City on October 24th can be found at http://www.filmforumnewyork.org/mp3/
ControlOct242007.mp3. The Q&A session is also available on iTunes. Search “Film Forum Podcasts” in the iTunes Store to locate it.