24 Hour Party People 2002

A-

This is an interestingly made movie about the Manchester music scene from its birth after the debut of the Sex Pistols (1976) to its death and decay with the breakup of Happy Mondays (1992). It is told by an actor who narrates and acts the part of Tony Wilson, a local TV news reporter who acts as a catalyst for Manchester’s rise and fall from music fame. For most people Manchester doesn’t mean anything and neither will the names of bands like Joy Division, New Order, and The Happy Mondays. That’s not essential.

What sets this movie apart from most is that it tells a story by recreating key moments. It is all told by Tony Wilson even though that real-life person wasn’t that involved in making the movie. Sometimes he talks to the camera about the movie, sometimes about the history and other times you get conventional movie scenes where no one seems aware of the camera. Instead of being a dry documentary, this keeps it lively and adds some of the very real drama of the time. It watches like a cross between the mockumentary of Spinal Tap and the first-person Goodfellas (esp. in one sequence that seems taken directly from the ending of Goodfellas as Ray Liotta is doing as much coke as he is selling). Eventually you learn that just about everyone who looks over 40 in the whole movie is one of the key people being portrayed by the younger actors in the movie, including Tony Wilson himself (who, in the must-see DVD extras, seems very uncomfortable with the whole movie).

Tony Wilson is an intriguing character. He is too old to be accepted in a world of very young musicians and fans (he’s almost a British version of Dick Clark, square and hip at the same time) but he also sincerely believes in the importance of the music scene he helps to develop and is a key person behind the scenes. That said, this is a very small slice of pop culture, though critical if you’re into New Wave or, later, dance music. Though other bands like The Clash and the Sex Pistols are mentioned, this movie focuses primarily on Joy Division and the Happy Mondays with New Order bridging the two.

There are interesting observations. When Wilson starts promoting his first band he makes an agreement to split proceeds with the band and they can retain ownership of their music. This is a huge breakthrough since bands routinely see only a tiny percentage of “net” profits and maybe less than that until they are successful and can negotiate a new contract. It’s hard to say how much of that is true since the movie was made by getting the characters and setting right but then letting the actors improvise. My only CD from the era is one by The Happy Mondays distributed by Elektra, a subsidiary of Warner, and printed by Columbia with barely a mention of Wilson’s enlightened company Factory Records. How much of my purchase price did the band see?

Wilson also owns a club and, though it is (eventually) extremely popular with a line outside every night, the dealers selling ecstasy are the ones who make all the money.

His record company, the club, the bands, and the music scene play out fairly quickly. In the meantime all the vices are portrayed here: sex, drugs, rock and roll (of course) along with violence, despair, money, greed, etc. Some people won’t really care about the subject matter and others might be frustrated with the way the movie is presented, but I thought it was an enjoyable look at not just one overnight sensation but how music evolves and changes in a series of short-lived movements and trends. After watching it and then watching the documentary extras on the DVD and hopefully listening to more of the music, I’d like to watch the whole movie again. I’ll give this an A-.