I mentioned yesterday that back in 1989 Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty had been unsuccesful in getting enough funding to complete their film The White Room. It must have been particularly galling to look around at the money that had been wasted on other musical projects not all that long before, and in particular the turkey that was Absolute Beginners.Released in 1986, it was a musical adaptation of the Colin MacInnes book of the same name about life in late 1950s London. It was directed by Julian Temple who up until then was best known for his work on The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle with Malcolm McLaren and some of the Sex Pistols, although he was more of a music video director than anything else.
Absolute Beginners was one of the most expensive films in British history, and the fact that it was a critical and more crucially, a commercial flop, meant at least one major studio being declared bankrupt. The main criticism at the time, and to be fair it is not one that anyone could argue with, is that being a musical adaptation instead of a faithful interpretation provides no real narrative and it has the look and feel of a series of badly linked but admittedly stylish looking music videos.
It was also criticised for much of the soundtrack being rooted in the 80s, and yet more than 20 years on, it is parts of the soundtrack which are about the only things worth rescuing from the ill-fated project.
At the time, I bought the LP for the sole reason that it included an otherwise unavailable track (as then) by The Style Council. As it turned out, it was actually a re-working of the track With Everything To Lose that had appeared on the LP Our Favourite Shop. I really did get the feeling I was being cheated:-
mp3 : The Style Council - With Everything To Lose
mp3 : The Style Council - Have You Ever Had It Blue?
But to be fair, I did eventually get over my bad mood and realised that there were some other songs on the soundtrack worth listening to. I always thought that the song from Sade seemed to be the sort of thing that Paul Weller was trying to write for DC Lee:-
mp3 : Sade - Killer Blow
But the less said about the two contributions by David Bowie and that of Eighth Wonder featuring Patsy Kensit the better.
Oh and if you want an idea of how bad the film is, have a look at this clip of a track that is also available on the soundtrack:-
Criminal.
17 comments:
I actually didn't mind the film and you are way off with the theme tune JC, one of the best things Bowie did in the 80s.
Absolutely gorgeous GS scooter in the film as well.
Yes, I quite like the Bowie title song too. It's certainly aged better than the film.
The film can't be THAT bad, because Patsy Kensit is in it, JC: I know you are in deep favour of the Clare Grogan - type of girl, but come on!!!
With weak knees,
Dirk
Never been any kind of a Style Council fan, but I enjoyed those. Perhaps it's because today I am in a particularly good mood.
The only joke I ever made up combined Patsy Kensit's name with my affinity for Spoonerisation (after a fashion). She was seeing a certain Mancunian lead singer at the time. You may need a working knowledge of Scots 'dialect' to get it though.
Here goes:
Q What's the difference between Liam Gallagher and his girlfriend?
A One's Patsy Kensit, the other kens he's past it.
I thank you. And to those who didn't laugh when I first told it, all those years ago, I hope you can now see the error of your ways.
The leads are bloody awful and it wastes the central theme of the book, which is the relationship between the narrator and his dad, but the film is packed with brilliant cameo performances, some fantastic musical numbers (I can't see what video clip you've posted because yt is blocked at work but if it's 'Selling Out' or 'Quiet Life' then I'm going to find you and somehow or another make you pay), a great underlying score by long term jazz legend Gil Evans, a fantastic Jerry Dammers' track and a brave attempt at making a US stylised musical... It didn't kill Goldcrest, Revolution did that ... I'm not claiming it did them a lot of good, but even The Mission, with Jeremy Irons and Robert de Niro, which won an oscar, lost more money for Goldcrest than Absolute Beginners... the art direction and set design is really good and the opening five minutes - a single shot in a camera diving in and out of dozens of venues around a studio built soho, is fantastic...I like the title track although I'm not so keen on Bowie's second offering but one of my favourite cinema experiences ever was the moment that Bowie's character first appears, in a cutaway shot at the top of the stairs at a party, and the whole cinema sighed...You're Wrong, JC! I don't get to say that very often at all so I need to revel in when I can!
I think the Bowie tracks pretty good too, and the films flawed but still watchable. In other news I always thought that Patsy Kensit and 8th wonder Pet Shop Boys thing was alright, but admittedly havn't heard it for years, decades even.
I think Colin MacInnes himself said that the best way to film his novel was as a musical. The style of it owes a lot to Coppola's 'One From The Heart' movie, another very expensive musical flop with amazing visuals.
It's pretty duff as a whole but I loved Dammers' race riot sequence and Bowie's theme song is, indeed, fabulous.
'One From The Heart' meanwhile is, in my humble, a masterpiece.
JC - sorry, but I have to concur with the others in saying that Bowie's title track is one of the best things he did in the 80's - above par if you look at Never Let Me Down and Blue Jean et al.
Though I DO agree with you about Volaré - one of the worst things of the 80's, and I mean the WHOLE of the 80's music scene, not just Bowie's output.
The film is flawed (Patsy Kensit and Bowie), Temple was obviously thinking "music video" while directing and the dance segments are the best parts of the film, mainly because nobody is saying anything. One of the worst British films of all time? No. One of the worst of the 80's? Yes.
Surprisingly controversial posting. The film was panned so much that actually, when I finally saw it, I thought it better than I expected. But on the whole I'm with JC - and definitely not that moved by Bowie track. Saying it is his best track of the 80s sadly isn't saying that much when you consider some of his other dross that decade. I bumped into Patsy Kensit in London about this time and she was lovely, but was neither a singer, nor better looking than Ms Grogan.
sorry jc the title track by bowie is fantastic and one of the best things he did in the 80s
that year goldcrest relesed 3 big films , the one you mentioned , mission and revolution with donald sutherland , natasha kinsky and al pacino also for some reason annie lennox. apparently 2 had to succeed to keep the business going with only the mission bringing in a profit. Absolute Beg was a success when compared to revolution which cost an fortune eg including the seafront in king lynn lincs being turned into a full replica of boston usa port. (I wonder what all thought of tehh fens!) I'm proud of the fact i played a part in one of the biggest flops in film in that for a daily rate of £50 (a fortune in those days) i was an street urchin extra for a day. I'm still waiting ofr the hollywood call
I love the title track - it's one of my all time favourite Bowie tracks and hugely evocative of an unrequited love (as is the whole soundtrack actually) my very own Suzette.
Meanwhile, that's Bruno from Strictly Come Dancing in that clip...
I have to join pretty much everyone else - the title track is phenomenal! Much of what Bowie did in the eighties post Scary Monsters was weak, but there were gems, and this was one of them (also have a soft spot for 'Loving The Alien' and 'Time Will Crawl' which are many times better than the likes of 'Blue Jean' and 'Dancing In The Street.'
I love 'One From The Heart' but the script is pretty bad. However, the visuals and songs (Tom Waits and Crystal Gayle!) are fantastic, and Nastassja Kinski in a skimpy circus outfit more than makes up for it.
I just love that extravagant we've built-all-of-Vegas on-a-soundstage hyper-romantic Powell-Pressburger thing about it: *sigh*.
I'm with the majority on "One from the heart". Visually wonderful and an excellent soundtrack.
Still don't get Bowie and his "Absolute Beginners" though. Book seemed absolutely brilliant in my youth, though I seem to remember liking "City of Spades" - the first in the trilogy - even more.
JC - this is clearly the future. Start a debate about a film. I might revisit Kylie's cinematic back-catalogue for a future Sunday piece......
By the way, that Sense Collective chap should get a spot on the Edinburgh Fringe. I haven't heard a joke that funny since he first told me it all those years ago.
Yours sincerely....
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