| Fast
forward to 1988. Yellow smiley faces have replaced the flares and
there's a non-stop cry of "aciiiieed!" in the air. Manchester
has become "Mad-chester" and the face of pop music has been
changed forever.
Michael
Winterbottom's digital video film about the rise and fall of Factory
Records charts the ups and downs of a whole era of music, from 1976
to 1992, with spectacular results.
This
isn't some dry rockumentary, though - it's an irreverent musical-comedy
extravaganza that follows the course of British pop from New Wave
to rave, like some demented version of Monty Python meets Top of
the Pops.
Taking
an irreverent scattergun approach, Winterbottom squeezes literally
everything of importance into the film: Joy Division singer Ian
Curtis' death; the opening of the Ha莽ienda; the arrival of
the Happy Mondays; and the collapse of Factory Records' business
empire.
It's
a wonderful nostalgia trip, full of comic asides (Coogan plays Tony
Wilson superbly, offering lots of straight-to-camera monologues
and bitchy comments) and a host of cameos from some of the real
movers and shakers of the Manchester scene.
Brilliantly
realised and hilariously funny, "24 Hour Party People"
is great fun. Don't miss it.
"24
Hour Party People" opens in UK cinemas on Friday 5th April
2002.
Reviewed
by , 大象传媒 Films
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