OK. It's not exactly a world premiere -- that was at Sundance late last year -- but it is an advanced showing ahead of its 18 May UK release.
The film is "The Future Is Unwritten", Julian Temple's bio-pic of Joe Strummer.
I do, without equivocation, rate the erstwhile John Graham (Woody) Mellor as my absolute hero.
But then we must always remember that heroes are human and therefore fallible. For instance, I was left with a rather sour taste after devouring Chris Salewicz' brilliant (official) biography "Redemption Song" recently. The reportage was accurate, detailed, personal and importantly, sanctioned. Moreover it was honest.
No one's perfect and Joe was nowhere near perfect. He was real. He was complex. And what's the point in fawning sycophancy?
I'm not going to re-write history or serve as a muso/pop-soc/socio-political critic. There's plenty of words about Joe out there and Wikipedia's profile is as good a place as any to start.
That said, I am hoping that the film will be a wee bit more 'enjoyable' than the book. [I know, enjoyable's the wrong word ..Satisfying? Direct? Telling?]. Either way, surely the medium of film is more visually and aurally appropriate to understanding and appreciating the man and his work? His was a musical art afterall, with a bit of film acting and scoring thrown-in for good measure..
Oh, even though in his later years Mr. Strummer preferred The Groucho to The Elgin, forget about Leicester Square as the venue. The advanced screening's part of the East End Film Festival and is at the Rio in Dalson -- just down the road from us.
No comments:
Post a Comment