![]() ![]() Obviously your attitude to the film will depend on your tolerance for Morrissey’s own sour world view – Tony Blair and the Royals come in for a kicking – but there are illuminating insights into the great man’s life and work. We’re still waiting for the definitive Britpop film (though No Distance Left To Run comes close) – but Live Forever is a solid love-note to the era, even if it relies too heavily on Liam Gallagher’s show-stealing quotes, playing it for laughs rather as opposed to examining the true cultural impact, and never dwelling on the darker side (the rampant heroin use, for example).īest music moment: You’ve heard all these songs a thousand times before, but the Oasis and Blur tunes still set the pulse racing.Ĥ2 The Importance Of Being Morrissey (2002)ĭirectors Tina Flintoff and Ricky Kelehar corralled an impressive cast of talking heads for this fawning celebration of the cantankerous Smiths legend – Bono, Noel Gallagher, playwright Alan Bennett and (weirdly) Harry Potter author JK Rowling were all on hand to sing Moz’s praises. Either way, it’s a short but not-so-sweet document as doomed as its subject. Or at least it did, until Richard filed a lawsuit banning its distribution, which may have been down to the use of Barbie dolls to depict Karen’s illness, or the accusations of homosexuality. Richard and Karen Carpenter were the ultimate clean-cut, brother and sister act responsible for buckets of pleasant MOR, but behind the scenes lay a dark story of depression and anorexia. The film boasts an enviable cast including The Mamas & The Papas, Otis Redding, Canned Heat, The Who and The Animals, but not The Grateful Dead, who deemed it too commercial a project.īest music moment: Hendrix burning and smashing his guitar at the end of ‘Wild Thing’, of course.Ĥ4 Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (1987) The precursor to the more famous Woodstock film caught the essence of the 1967 festival – and the summer of love – and set the bar high for concert documentaries to come. Released five years after Joe Strummer’s death, Julien Temple’s nuanced tribute to the much-loved Clash man featured some unexpected talking-head contributions (Johnny Depp, John Cusack) as well as some all-too expected ones (Bobby Gillespie, Bono).Īdmirably, Temple makes no attempt to sugar-coat Strummer’s various contradictions and hypocrisies – this is an affectionate documentary, but not an uncritical one.īest music moment: There’s some great archive footage early on, of Strummer laying down vocals, a capella, for ‘White Riot’. This second documentary on the band set out years later to get their take on events and – although punks would balk at the word – contextualise their influence in a broken Britain.Īlthough not strictly a music film per se, this – like all John Hughes’ movies – brought indie music to the mainstream.įrom the ubiquitous “chick-a-chick-aahs” to the gratuitous use of The Beat, The Flowerpot Men, Sigue Sigue Sputnik and of course The Smiths’ ‘Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want’ in the museum scene, ‘FB’s Day Off’ seamlessly weaves iconic music into its goofy plot. ![]()
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