Twenty Four Hour Party People
Starring - Steve Coogan, Paddy Considine, Lennie James, Andy Serkis, Jon Simm, Ralf Little, Keith Allen, Shirley Henderson
Director- Michael Winterbottom
Before I watched this film, I liked the Manchester or Madchester music scene… afterwards, I loved it. Our story is told by Mr Manchester himself- Tony Wilson, played with aplomb by Steve Coogan- one of the founding fathers of Factory Records- the cornerstone of this luscious piece of art.
Tony Wilson however states that… ‘I am a minor character in my own story’ slipping into the role of facilitator and narrator throughout.
Our story begins with real footage of a disastrously sounding gig at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester with only 30 odd people present in the audience. On stage are none other than The Sex Pistols. The gig sounded awful, but the power and energy produced that night, legend says, spawned the Manchester new wave musical movement with Joy Division leading the way.
Screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce drags us kicking and screaming from the early days of Factory Records with the aforementioned Joy Division, through the magical Hacienda days to the highs of the Happy Mondays and New Order.
If I was going to ask you to watch one film… it would be this one. Yes the story is great and the acting is amazing but it’s the way Winterbottom captures Manchester that was truly impressive. Veterans of the real Hacienda said it was exactly like the original and felt like they’d been transported back in time. The soundtrack is like rich nectar being dropped into your ears particularly the Acid House parts of the film. The sheer seemingly stupidity of some of the decisions made by Factory make the mind boggle- 30,000 on a table… and losing money on the highest selling 12 inch single of all time… Blue Monday by New Order.
But that was just the point- Factory wasn’t about making money- it was a social experiment designed for the kids of Manchester… and Michael Winterbottom captures it perfectly.
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