onfocus

24 Hour Party People was good. Like Dogtown and Z-Boys, it's an interesting look at a subculture that eventually became absorbed into mass culture. (Though this film is not a documentary like Dogtown.) It's interesting to see what choices people make when big interests move in to take advantage of a new cultural movement. Tony Wilson (early promoter of bands like Joy Division/New Order and Happy Mondays) solved this big business dilemma for himself by never signing contracts with his bands. To paraphrase from the film, he prevented himself from ever facing having "sold out" by never having anything. The film is a bit confused and hard to follow at times, but it seems like Manchester in those days was as well. The style was fun, though, and it was constantly breaking the 4th wall as the character Tony narrates the action from within the film.

And now I can't get this out of my head.