The Filth and the Fury - A Sex Pistols Film
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Movie Reviews of The Filth and the Fury - A Sex Pistols Film
Movie Review: GREAT FILM HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
superflykai gives an excellent review below and says exactly what I would have said, if I had only gotten here first. So I won't try and top it. What I will say though is that this is probably my favorite film of all time. You can tell that this was a real work of love. The editing is unbelievable and is actually more of an art film than anything else. Johnny Rottens naration just pulls you in. You see how intelligent he really is. No censorship here. There are virtually endless amounts of original scenes intercut in the most thoughtful way. Great interviews with Sid Vicious and silly scenes of him walking through the High Park in London with his swastika t-shirt and black leather jacket freaking everyone out. Great live performance scenes and you see that Steve Jones plays guitar as good on stage as he did in the studio. It's amazing to see how great they really were. There are also some heartfelt moments where Johnny feels a geat sense of sorrow about not knowing how to help Sid and he holds back the tears as he remembers how the papers exploited Sid's death and made a joke out of it. Too much material in this film to even begin to cover it. It's simply a great film and I highly recommend it to anyone with a mind.
If you care about rock and roll as a means of social consiousness or as a way of personal liberation from all the social stupidiy, or if you ever dared rebel against authority, then this is a film for you and about you. I don't know any other band who did what the Sex Pistols did. Everything else now seems boring to me.
My only complaint is that the film left me wanting for more. I've now seen all these great little clips of all these shows and all this chaos and I just want to see more of it.. I hope they release an updated version. I would like to see the entire Sid and Nancy interviews on a bonus disc. That would be great. I'd like to see more live shows complete from start to finish. The bonus materials on the disc aren't that great. Not much really. Only a couple of items..
I would also recommend Johnny Rottens autobiography, "Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks No Dogs" (title taken from a common sign which hung outside pubs in England in the 50's"
Movie Review: As accurate as it can get
Summary: 4 Stars
Well no, I wasn't at the 100 Club that night either; I was far too young but nomatter when you got into the Pistols, this offering will be of interest to you. Documenting the rise and fall of the band, we flit from 1976 London to 1978 San Francisco in what seemed like no time. Contrasting with The Great Rock 'n Roll Swindle, this punkumentary is told by the band members (including Sid) as opposed to McLaren. It would have been nice to have heard his reaction to the way Jones, Cook and expecially Lydon tell it but I suppose they would not have participated if McLaren was involved at all.
You have to look past Temple's style of documentary: it appeared to be a 'yoof' orientated aural and visual assualt on the senses or maybe this is the 'punk' way of making documentaries. The silhouettes of the Pistols was annoying, I can see no real reason for it. And unless I'm mistaken, a lot of the dialogue was out of sync with the pictures; was this deliberate? Again, I see no reason for it to be.
The above notwithstanding, I enjoyed this slice of punk. Poor Sid.
Movie Review: Secret Monikers for Trashy Brits
Summary: 4 Stars
Julien Temple and The Sex Pistol's anecdote to "Sid & Nancy." The documentary "The Filth and the Fury" amounts to personal points of view from the band members brought forefront, with actual recorded video footage over two decades old. Johnny Rotten blasts Malcolm McClaren, Steve and Paul blast Sid's awful bass playing skills, and everyone gangs up on Glen... sounds like the Pistols to me!
The documentary is a sociocultural and historical perspective from the band members pertaining to everything from Great Britain's economic depression during the late 1970's, to individual opinions on the creative stagnation of musical creativity that plagued popular music during the period. Actual video footage acts as a band diary in revealing the complex issues each fool had to deal with.
The interview with Sid Vicious is absolutely classic, the live action sequences of filthy, underground dive shows with the audience hanging on for the ride capture the pure essence which seems to have been lost in this modern day arena rock period. The indigence scene will always be a means of new and more creative sounds and it seems as though after watching this movie, you may have missed out on something good.
The documentary is superfluously laced with ancient clips of an English version of Richard III at the beginning of the documentary, only to taper off towards the end. The documentary is full of scenes cutting and switching to events, while back-tracking to live interviews where band members are sitting in dark rooms to hide their aged faces... as more and more natural light fills their rooms, you begin to see the outlines of their faces. Of course there are other documentaries on the Sex Pistol that have live interviews with their current aged selves... there is one documentary entitled "Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols," which has an up to date interview with Malcolm McClaren and the rest of the gang.
With a background score almost entirely consisting of Pistol songs, excellent footage of riots in England, and the documentation of the band's self-destruction, right along with Nancy and Sid's self-destruction, the movie ends itself on gloomy circumstances where Mr. Rotten encourages people to see life his way.
The movie is an absolutely wonderful watch, even if you never had the chance to enjoy The Sex Pistols or punk rock for the matter.
Movie Review: Pistol Packing!
Summary: 5 Stars
'The Filth and The Fury' stands out as a much better film than Temple's original 'Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle'. The only flaw in the film is the overdubbing of album tracks over original live footage. The Pistols were very much a reaction against the prevailing social and cultural outlook of Britain at the time and Temple does his best to transport us there through splicing clips of riots in Northern Ireland and London with TV commercials of that era. Although many people would deny any influence, 'The Fury' does share similiar qualities in form with Guy Debord's movie 'The Society of the Spectacle'. Along with montage images of political unrest and everyday consumerism, there's also the use of Shakesperian characters as narrators to the story. Orson Welles' Macbeth in 'The Spectacle' and Lawrence Olivier's Richard III in 'The Fury'.The best parts of the film are when various establishment figures e.g. city councilers and vicars, start to raging against the Pistols and the punk movement. From our vantage point it's difficult to see how some people could become so enraged over a rock group. Punk attitude today is almost a prerequisite for becoming a successful rock act. Another irony looking back from now is how ultimately contemporary the Pistols look. Almost conventional compared to the large hair and trousers they had to contend with. Which just goes to show how in terms of attitude and fashion, the Pistols were completely ahead of their time.
Movie Review: Everything you want to know from the Pistols point of view
Summary: 4 Stars
The "Filth and the Fury" brings you the auto-biographic history of the Sex Pistols. It is the only movie that revisits the era in which the Pistols stormed onto the music scene, saying ...You" to meanstream music, only to crash and burn in their visit to the United States, from the surviving band members point of view. The Sex Pistols give you everything you need to know about them in this movie. Their hatred for British society and government in the 1970s, as well as their hatred for their manager, Malcolm McLaren. It effectively displayed the effect their music had to their audience, showing the transition of style from show to show. (If you are particular squimess to fetish or baby pin piercings, do not watch this movie). And, rather humorously, "The Filth and the Fury" shows what ... off meanstream society about the Pistols.
Perhaps what is most memorizing about the movie is Johnny Rotten's emotional response to the death of his good friend and bass player, Sid Vicious. It is a side of Rotten that few will ever see, and the moment would have been even greater if he wasn't covered by a shadow. (All band members, in reflecting on the past, are covered with shadows)
With qoutes from "Paradise Lost" and clips from Shakespeare productions, the director seems to think his movie is advertised to British Literature majors. Malcolm McLaren's point of view is basicly eliminated. He is limited only to sound bites voiced over a man in a perversive leather mask. McLaren's portrayal in the movie is both distasteful and bias.
Other than these few problems, the movie is great when showing who the Pistols are and how and why they ...off England. You do not have to be a Sex Pistol fan to see this movie.