A film I believe should be considered for the module is “24 Hour Party People”, a 2002 UK film, directed by Michael Winterbottom, written by Frank Cottrell Boyce and starring Steve Coogan, Paddy Considine and Shirley Henderson. “24 Hour Party People” charts the life of the Factory Records imprint, through the eyes of its driving force, local TV presenter and impresario Tony Wilson, from its inception in 1976 to its collapse in 1992. When the film was first released it received broadly positive reviews, with many critics noting the unusual manner in which real footage and direct recreations of events were spliced with urban legends, fictional scenes and outright fantasy.
“24 Hour Party People” follows the story of Tony Wilson, a real-life music impresario and television presenter who owned (or, as the film suggests, nominally owned) Factory Records, the record label which would change the way in which British music was created (by introducing the “Madchester” sound), communicated (by focussing not the artist or band, but the medium by which they were conveyed; the DJ) and even packaged (almost all Factory-released records were designed by an in-house graphic designer). All characters in the film are based on real people – including notable bands such as Joy Division (who became New Order) and the Happy Mondays - and the majority of settings are real places, such as Manchester’s Hacienda nightclub. The film depicts a key period in the history of both British music and of Manchester. The early scenes make reference to this, as dramatic content is mixed with archival footage to emphasise the factual nature of the events depicted – the film opens with a piece from Manchester’s local news, and merges the actual television report from 1976 with a stylised monologue delivered by Steve Coogan, the actor playing Tony Wilson, who, despite his success in the music business, was a constant fixture on regional television in the North West until his death in 2007. The monologue at the very beginning foreshadows the main themes of the film; “Icarus” states Wilson, referring to the Greek myth of the man who flew too near to the sun and fell to his death as the heat melted the wax that held his wings together. Factory Records is presented as being more than just a music record label, but as a cultural movement, which encompassed Situationist and post-modernist thought in its attempts to glorify living in the moment, and which was inexorably linked to its physical roots; to Manchester. Indeed, the narrative arc on which the film operates holds that, in keeping with its roots, by not “selling out”, and by living for today, a situation is created in which it cannot last – the fabric of the label, and of the movement, is pulled apart at the seams, like Icarus’ wings, by flying too high; success inflates egos, raises tensions and attracts unwanted attention, such as from the drug dealers who force the closure of Factory’s flagship nightclub, the Hacienda, and from other record labels, who covet the stars unearthed by Wilson and the Factory staff.
What makes this film interesting is not necessarily the history it portrays, but the way in which it is portrayed. The ethics of the Factory Records imprint are exemplified in the production of the film. It is often cited as an example of postmodernist cinema; characters frequently break the fourth wall (Tony Wilson, played by Steve Coogan, keeps a steady dialogue with the audience), contemporary documentary footage is mixed with dramatic re-creations of the same events (such as the scene which depicts what many consider the birth of the “Madchester” scene, the 1976 Sex Pistols gig, in which Tony Wilson introduces the audience to other concert-goers, who include future members of Buzzcocks, Joy Division and Simply Red, as well as a postman), and real people being portrayed make cameos into the fictional representations of their own lives (Howard Devoto, singer in Manchester bands Buzzcocks and Magazine, left watching a fictional version of himself have sex with Tony Wilson’s wife, comments “I definitely don’t remember this happening!”). The lack of a single true narrative is also a key postmodern aspect of the film, as the film makes little or no differentiation between factual events, urban legends (the truthfulness of which remains in doubt) and complete fiction; all are presented in the same manner. Indeed, whilst the film is nominally centred on Tony Wilson, he readily admits to being a “minor character in his own film”. Factory Records’ values, those of liberation from the staid nature of modern life, of living in the moment and of the self-awareness of the creators of beauty, are exemplified in the presentation of the Factory Records story.
The contemporary nature of “24 Hour Party People” is also evident. It was released in 2002, only ten years after the climax of the events of the film, and it includes actors who lived through the period, and in the same geographic area as the events, such as Steve Coogan (Tony Wilson), Ralf Little and John Simm (Joy Division’s Peter Hook and Bernard Sumner) and Peter Kay (club owner Don Tonay). Similarly, the people who form the basis for the film’s characters were by and large still alive when the film was being made, and thus could provide valuable input into production, which ensured authenticity. Doubtless few other films could claim that their novelisation was written by the central character, as Tony Wilson did after the film was released in 2002; essentially an autobiography based on a dramatisation, and, in effect, the full culmination of the post-modern ideals of the film.
so yeah, its not complete, but its basically gonna be that. please disagree, or agree, or whatever. should have my Oscar films review up soon, i've seen almost all the nominees so its a bit of a waste not to write summat about them, and in more depth than the gash!/ace! analysis of above.
peace out.
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