QUADROPHENIA
This movie is the adaptation
of the second rock opera by The Who, and its a very different animal
than Ken Russell's Tommy. For
one thing it has none of Russell's bombastic, over-the-top style he
used in that film. In fact, this movie has a very documentary-like
quality to it, which serves the story all the better, anchoring its
real life aspects and setting.
Our
hero is Jimmy Cooper, a young Mod living in 1960s London (the actual
time frame is never quite specified, though some people say the
inclusion of The Who's My Generation
is actually anachronistic, since the movie apparently takes place
before the release of that particular song). The early parts of the
film depicts young Jimmy's day-to-day life consisting of his day job
(a messenger boy for an ad agency), his nights of revelerie with his
Mod friends and his attempted romance of Steph, the girl he fancies.
It's the part where Jimmy is the happiest, thoroughly engaged in his
Mod lifestyle of pop music, trendy clothes and amphetamine-fuelled
parties. All of this leading to a
Bank Holiday in Brighton where Jimmy gets the girls and participates
in one of those
notorious beach fights with Rockers.
After
Brighton though, everything falls apart for Jimmy. He is thrown out
of his house by his Mom, he unceremoniously resigns from his job,
Steph leaves him for his friend Dave and he realises the moddest Mod
of all is only a bell boy in some hotel. After so many disillusions
and betrayals, Jimmy decides to...well, what happens next is
definitely left to the audience. On the one hand, it's implied that
Jimmy commits suicide out of sheer despair. However, director Franc
Roddam and some of the cast (including Phil Daniels, i.e. « Jimmy »)
seem to agree that Jimmy decides to become his own man and leave the
Mod lifestyle because he realises that conformity is just as a valued
there as in the « real » world of grown ups and day jobs.
Essentially, they argue that Jimmy realises that being himself is far
more rewarding than just being one Mod among many, and even the top
dogs of the movement have to bow down to somebody else. Jimmy may
have finally heeded the words of his Rocker friend Kevin, who told
him than Mods and Rockers are basically the same underneath and
trying to be « different » avails nothing in the end
because there's always somebody on top telling you what to do. Well,
for my part if this is true, it certainly makes the ending much more
uplifting, doesn't
it?
Needless to say the entire
cast shines, and we never get the impression of seeing actors but
people who actually have a history together and have known each other
for some time. It helps that Roddam picked up unknowns then at the
beginning of their careers and forced them to live together as
friends before actully shooting the film. Phil Daniels strike all the
right chords and we can really sympathise with him, even though he
sometimes behave like a douche, which gives all the more credence for
his performance.
Some
Mod specialists say the movie actually overplays some elements. For
instance the romance portion of the story. It's been said Amphetamine
abuse has a tendency to lower one's libido and the Mods were, in the
truest sense of the word, a Boy's Only club where females remained on
the periphery, so the
Jimmy/Steph relationship may not be entirely realistic.
Of
course, people may balk at the utter Britishness
of the whole thing. The London cokcney accents may be hard to take
for first time viewers and
Mod doesn't have clear a equivalent in America (although Saturday
Night Fever was apparently so
very inspired by Quadrophenia),
so aspects of the subculture may be a bit difficult to understand.
However, the film's message is quite universal and Jimmy, if we take
the Mod trappings away, could easily become the everykid he truly is.
Even if you haven't listened to the album, of know nothing about
Mods, I nevertheless thoroughly recommend it.
It's available in DVD/Blue Ray
from the Criterion Collection.
O
LUCKY MAN
There
really isn't another film quite like O Lucky Man,
its one of those movies that are in a class by themselves. It's
ostensibly about this coffee salesman, Mick (played by long-time
favourite Malcom McDowell) and his attempts to rise to the top of the
food chain. But describing it like that does it a profound
disservice. For O Lucky Man
is actually a picaresque film, that is a movie depicting a
character's series of misadventures where, at the end, they actually
gain some sort of wisdom. Of
course, nothing is that easy in this film, so viewers are left with
their own opinion wether or not Mick has learned anything out
of his journeys.
Journeys
and experiences
including :
being caught right in the middle of a nuclear meltdown, being trapped
in a medical clinic headed by a mad scientist, being framed for fraud
and stolen gold currency by a corrupt businessman, being shat upon by
the very poor people he was trying to help, and attending the casting
call of the movie you're just watching, and that's only scratching
the surface. All of this to the tune of Alan Price's priceless
music (pun intended).
Very
quickly things become very dreamlike as Anderson completely destroys
the line between the movie world and the real world. Individual
actors appear several times, playing different characters (as I
recall, only Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren play single roles
throughout the film). The director himself appears, mostly giving
directions to Alan Price's band, who later make an appearance in
movie by saving Mick from Pr.
Millard's clinic. All of this culminating in the very last shot where
we see cast and crew having a ball, drinking and dancing to...yes
indeed...Alan Price's music again.
And
since Anderson was a bit of an anti-establishment figure, he shoots
from the hip to almost every conceivable targets he could think of :
corrupt execs, corrupt policemen, corrupts judges, corrupt priests
and corrupt science project. So you can see, Anderson had a huge chip
on his shoulder regarding British society in the early seventies. One
of the best British films ever…
Available
on DVD from Warner.
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