I spent the entire movie trying to figure out who was being interviewed! It was only half-way through that I figured out Topper was the older guy in the pink shirt. Obviously I knew Bono, Depp, Cusack, Kiedis, etc., but would it have killed Temple to identify his interview subjects for those of us who perhaps aren't as hip as he is? Very annoying.
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I KNOW some of those people and I was still confused. But it does make sense thematically, it is a film about tearing down idols.
,Said the Shotgun to the Head--
Saul Williams
Yes, I was bugged by this.
I realize it was Temple's intent to keep the focus on Joe, but it would have given the film more context if we knew what each person's relation to Joe was. I didn't recognize Steve Jones at all, and he was pretty important to the UK Punk Scene.
For what it's worth, on the DVD version of the film each interview subject *is* identified in the "extras" feature.
Oh, and I will give $25 to any director who will avoid interviewing Bono in his/her next documentary.
In a recent interview, director Temple said he wanted the audience to participate more by WORKING during the campfire scenes, by actively listening and trying to figure out who's who by what they say.
Sure, fine. I'm okay with that.
What annoyed me terribly, though, was that the speakers were NEVER identified, even after the fact. I mean, it wouldn't have hurt Temple's concept if we got a series of picture credits during the end rollup, right? With everyone FINALLY being identified by name?
I recognized a few of the less obvious people, such as rock photographer Bob Gruen (receding hairline, curly silvery hair on the back of his head) and Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones (beefy guy, looking like a heavier version of his '70s self), and I'm pretty sure the very chatty rasta-man was deejay/filmmaker Don Letts...
But who on earth was that really, really old, scatchy-voiced Englishman with the absurd fake black hair, the guy who looked kinda like a bad wax museum figure of Keith Richards? (And, no, I don't mean Johnny Depp!) Anybody know?
You are asking about John Cooper Clark, a punk poet form the 1970's. He's from Manchester and put out records on Rabid Records, one of the first indie labels in the U.K.
His old stuff is very good.
He can also be seen performing in CONTROL, the Joy Division/Ian Curtis movie.
He was one of the few from the movie I recognized right away.
Oh, man, thanks for that!
Didn't John Cooper Clarke record that loopy poem/chant "Evidently Chickentown" for Stiff Records? I had that track on a Stiff compilation LP but there was no picture of Clarke, and I always wondered what he looked like.
"Chickentown" was used to bizarre effect in the closing scene of an episode of THE SOPRANOS during that series' final season. I nearly flipped out when I heard it!
Thanks also for the tip about CONTROL. I hope to see that film next weekend.
None of the women were IDed and none are listed in IMDB's cast list. Very annoying. Tempel will pay for this. I will see that the director's name, Julie Tempil, is misspelled everywhere she goes.
shareI noticed that, too. What's up with that? Are the women just not as important? Seriously? Why isn't Palmolive in the cast list? It really pissed me off.
Haha. Julie Tempil indeed.
Pearl Harbor (aka Pearly Gates) of Pearl Harbor and the Explosions was the woman who looked like vintage Amy Winehouse. She was once married to Paul Simonon. She's fabulous.
shareI heard an interview with Julien Temple, where he justified the lack of identification with a pretty good argument: he claimed that the use of titles makes the audience loose their sense of feeling immersed in the film. The appearance of titles on screen being an external interference to the aesthetic of the film, and although I found it challenging i think i've goto agree.
When I saw this at Sundance, Temple said that he wanted to make the audience feel as if we were sitting around the campfire with these people, talking about Joe. That said, I agree that it wouldn't have killed him to ID them all at the end, as someone else suggested.
I know I'm shouting, I like to shout.
I didn't feel immersed, I felt frustrated because I didn't know who all these people were. It was almost like "if you're punk, you'll KNOW who everyone is."
I really could have done without Cusack, Johnny Depp and the rest being there...although Flea saying that when a band has nothing new to say they should stop playing was unintentionally ironically hilarious.
Agreed. It didn't ruin the film for me or distract terribly much, but it was really frustrating and kind of takes away from the informative aspect of the film. It would've tied together nicely if all the interview subjects were identified at the end.
shareYour first two sentences, I could not have worded it better myself, thank you.
I found Topper nearly unrecognizable.
I think Temple left the ID's out so as not to appear so much like a documentary.
And where was Paul?
I can understand the concept behind Temple's idea of leaving out the names, but i also found it a bit frustrating. Besides it didn't serve to make it more intimate-sitting around a campfire-because you don't sit around a campfire with a bunch of strangers. even if you've never met, you do introduce yourself so your comments have more context.
shareI spent the whole film wondering when Paul Simonon (Clash bass player) was going to show up, never did. Even in archive footage I think he says about one word total!
shareon one hand this was pretty cool and turned the doc into a bunch of strummers friends reminiscing about a dear friend. But at the close of the film one feels excluded by the fact that if you didn't know who anybody was then tough luck- you weren't part of their gang. is there a commentary worth listening to on the dvd? i tried listening to the filth and fury commentary but its really dull and adds nothing to the film.
shareI think it was an episode of the Henry Rollins show on IFC that Paul Simonon didn't seem very interested in talking about the past.
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