Review: '24 Hour Party People'

Part of my problem with 'Confessions of a Dangerous Mind' may be that I watched it a few days after watching '24 Hour Party People'. Both are movies based on real life events. Both are trying to cover decades of time within a two hour window. Both are covering entertainment that I have an interest in. One movie was affecting, drawing me into the movie and the stories it told and one didn't. Since I already said yesterday that 'Confessions...' didn't drag me in, well, the math is pretty simple on this one.

'24 Hour Party People' is the story of Factory Records, a Manchester based company headed by television presenter Tony Wilson. The story follows him despite his insistence that the bands are the important part of the story, that he merely happened to be there. While Factory released albums by a number of different artists, the movie covers the rise and fall of only two: Joy Division (and New Order that spun from Joy Division so technically three I suppose) and the Happy Mondays.

While based on real events, the movie was largely improvised by the cast, which gives the movie more of a documentary type feel, as if this was captured, 'behind the scenes' type footage. The fact that this can lead to details being altered or misremembered by the original participants is addressed within the film in a manner that I found clever and funny at the same time.

See, since Tony Wilson was a television presenter, his character within the film (played by Steve Coogan) also narrates the film to us, as if he was presenting his life on television. He pops in and out of presenter mode as the film progresses and it's always very clear as to what's happening. After a particularly sad moment in his personal history, Tony walks past a man but the camera stays on said individual rather than following Tony. The individual turns to the camera and says something to the effect of 'That's not really what happened.' Narrator Tony explains that this is the real person involved in the scene and goes to point out other cameos of the people who lived this experience including the real Tony Wilson.

Even being pulled out of the reality of the movie like this, the acting is quality enough to make it affecting. When Bad Things happen, I got sad. When Funny Things happened, I smiled. The DVD box touts it as a comedy but that's not really fair to the movie. It's amusing, light hearted when it can be, but it's not really funny as such. It may interest and amaze you how people that could be so bright at times could also be so stupid. Hmm, sounds like I'm talking about myself now. At least that's what my parents and teachers and supervisors have told me in the past.

I must note, in all fairness, that I have a 2007 BBC4 documentary on Factory Records that provides the same information found within the film only for 'real'. I've watched that a few times before seeing the film and that familiarity with the story may have helped my enjoyment of the film somehow. The information in the movie did largely match up with the documentary and seeing that accuracy might have built my appreciation. Really, the movie should be re-released on DVD with that documentary as it is very well done. It's made me want more BBC made entertainment related documentaries so it did it's job as well.

Recommended. The movie is clever enough that I think it will hold the interest of those unfamiliar with the music involved.