I watched 24 hour party people for the first time today and all i can say is what a great film this is! It's so fantastic to see the cream of British talent merged into a film that not only details events leading up to the what-we-now-call the rave culture but it displays a thoroughly in-depth representation of lifestyle in the country with so much British humour pouring out of it. Not knowing much about the punk-rock culture that gripped the world at that time, i was unaware of what to expect and probably thought i'd be seeing another 'Human Traffic', but i couldn't have been more wrong. '24 Hour Party People' sends you on a journey through the life of TV presenter/founder of Factory Records Tony Wilson, a production company that put such world-famous bands on the map such as 'Happy Mondays' and 'Joy Division'. With so many characters bursting with charisma and energy along the way, it's so hard to believe that such a wide variety of British actors (John Simm, Paddy Considine, Peter Kay, Shirley Henderson and Rob Brydon to name but a few) can actually make a film like this work, but not even these so talented performers damage the pace and genuity of such a work of art.
This film sometimes had me believing whether what i was watching was fact or fiction, with the film largely based on true events and shot in mockumentary for, i sometimes struggled to realize history from point-of-views, but this only heightened the originality and structure of the movie. At of everything great about this movie, Steve Coogan has to come out at best. Everything he does is so down-right hilarious yet meaningful, bringing all of the brilliant characters to the height of their game. He basically moulds the entirety of the film and never shows signs of stopping when all has failed. OK so i could see hints of Alan Partrige in him (most notably the first section of the film when he hang-glides) but this only jolted me into hysterics more. This is a quality actor who should never be overlooked as one of Britain's all-time performers.
Overall, i don't really have anything particularly bad to say about this film, and that's usually not the case for me! So if your a British citizen, whether or not you want to explore the origins of a key culture in our society (even today) this film is for you! I don't really know how it will go down with the rest of the world as their could be many mixed reviews, this is all down to the distribution and making of the film, you don't know whether it could be mainstream cinema or British indie. But this shouldn't put you off at all, so to see the best British comedians and actors with more chemistry (and chemicals) than a science lab, go out and get 24 Hour Party People! You will not regret it!
p.s. the only thing it was missing was Lee Evans! :P
This film sometimes had me believing whether what i was watching was fact or fiction, with the film largely based on true events and shot in mockumentary for, i sometimes struggled to realize history from point-of-views, but this only heightened the originality and structure of the movie. At of everything great about this movie, Steve Coogan has to come out at best. Everything he does is so down-right hilarious yet meaningful, bringing all of the brilliant characters to the height of their game. He basically moulds the entirety of the film and never shows signs of stopping when all has failed. OK so i could see hints of Alan Partrige in him (most notably the first section of the film when he hang-glides) but this only jolted me into hysterics more. This is a quality actor who should never be overlooked as one of Britain's all-time performers.
Overall, i don't really have anything particularly bad to say about this film, and that's usually not the case for me! So if your a British citizen, whether or not you want to explore the origins of a key culture in our society (even today) this film is for you! I don't really know how it will go down with the rest of the world as their could be many mixed reviews, this is all down to the distribution and making of the film, you don't know whether it could be mainstream cinema or British indie. But this shouldn't put you off at all, so to see the best British comedians and actors with more chemistry (and chemicals) than a science lab, go out and get 24 Hour Party People! You will not regret it!
p.s. the only thing it was missing was Lee Evans! :P