Themes: Bohemian Life, Ladder to the Top, Romantic Betrayal
Main Cast: Eddie O'Connell, Patsy Kensit, David Bowie, James Fox, Ray Davies
Release Year: 1986
Country: UK
Run Time: 107 minutes
Plot
The rise of teen culture in 1950s Britain provides the backdrop for Julien Temple's unconventional rock musical Absolute Beginners. The film centers on Colin, an 18-year-old with a talent for photography and a fondness for the neon nightlife of British jazz clubs. He also is in love with Crepe Suzette, an impulsive, ambitious young beauty who abandons him after attracting the attention of a powerful fashion designer. Depressed and aimless, Colin turns for help to a flashy ad executive (David Bowie) who promises to make him a star photographer. The former lovers take parallel paths to success, capitalizing on the youth mania gripping the nation. The film's nostalgic yet gently satirical look at teen culture is tempered by a recognition of the era's social tension, particularly a disturbing rise in racism. Despite these serious undertones, however, the film tells its story with a colorful vibrancy reminiscent of both MTV and old Hollywood musicals, filled with such show-stopping numbers as a memorable sequence in which Bowie dances on a giant typewriter. Critical reception was mixed, with some hailing the film's spectacular cinematography and ambitious scope, while others found the mixture of tones and style too inconsistent. The film also drew lukewarm response at the box office, with the memorable soundtrack receiving more attention than the film itself. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
Review
Julien Temple's wildly stylized musical adaptation of Colin MacInnes' novel is a dazzling blend of music, dance, and visual effects, reminiscent of a two-hour video in the best sense. Set in the pre-swinging London of 1958, it centers on the tribulations of a young working-class photographer (Eddie O'Connell) anxious to impress a former girlfriend (Patsy Kensit) already moving up in the world. Evocative of the Minnelli and Gene Kelly musicals of the '50s, the film also reflects Vegas revues, with a visual style grounded in swooping crane movements and smoothly interlocking tracking shots which never seem to end. As it could be only in Temple's fantasy world, jazz is its lingua franca, with a coruscating patchwork score by the venerable Gil Evans that samples the music of Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, and other luminaries of the period. Given the limitations of O'Connell, Kensit, and the thin script, the film lags when the music stops and they're required to act, but most of the time the director uses them virtually as animatronic figures reacting in the simplest manner to the spectacle constantly spinning about them. In a film that touts the retro appeal of a martini and a smoke, David Bowie's Mephistophilean ad man is an emblem of its fascination with seductive surfaces. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
Steven Berkoff - The Fanatic; Eve Ferret - Big Jill; Anita Morris - Dido Lament; Lionel Blair - Harry Charms; Mandy Rice-Davies - Mum; Tenpole Tudor - Ed the Ted; Tony Hippolyte - Mr. Cool; Chris Pitt - Baby Boom; Paul Rhys - Dean Swift; Julian Firth - The Misery Kid; Ronald Fraser - Amberly Drove; Irene Handl - Mrs. Larkin; Sylvia Syms - Cynthia Eve; Peter-Hugo Daly - Vern; Johnny Shannon - Saltzman; Amanda Jane Powell - Dorita; Robbie Coltrane - Mario; Robert Austin - Slim Brother; Jess Conrad - Cappuccino Man; Graham Fletcher-Cook - Wizard; Jim Dunk - Slim Brother; Alan Freeman - Call-Me-Cobber; Astley Harvey - Mr. Cool, Sr.; Colin Jeavons - Pamphleteer; Joe McKenna - Fabulous Hoplite; Bruce Payne - Flicker; Ekow Abban - Santa Lucia Club Owner; Sade - Athene Duncannon; Smiley Culture - D.J. Entertainer; Slim Gaillard - Party Singer; Pat Hartley - Ms. Cool, Sr.; Gerry Alexander - Ton-Up Vicar; Gary Beadle - Johnny Wonder; Johnny Edge - Trader Horn; Carmen Ejogo - Carmen; Paul Fairminer - Eddie Sex; Hugo First - Maltese Lodger; G.B. - Zoot; Alfred Maron - Bert the Tailor; Sandie Shaw - Baby Boom's Mum; Bruno Tonioli - Maltese Lodger; Mary Selway; Susie Figgis; Zoot Money - Chez Nobody Barman
Credit
Stuart Rose - Art Director, Ken Wheatley - Art Director, David Wimbury - Associate Producer, Daivd Toguri - Choreography, Dave Perry - Costume Designer, Sue Blane - Costume Designer, Julien Temple - Director, Richard Bedford - Editor, Michael Bradsell - Editor, Gerry Hambling - Editor, Russell Lloyd - Editor, Nik Powell - Executive Producer, Al Clark - Executive Producer, Gil Evans - Musical Arrangement, Edward Tudor-Pole - Songwriter, Ekow Abban - Songwriter, Sade - Songwriter, Laurie Aitken - Songwriter, Edward Barber - Songwriter, David Bowie - Songwriter, J. Burton - Songwriter, Smiley Culture - Songwriter, Jerry Dammers - Songwriter, Raymond Douglas Davies - Songwriter, Miles Davis - Songwriter, Slim Gaillard - Songwriter, Patsy Kensit - Songwriter, Clive Langer - Songwriter, Simon R. Lewis - Songwriter, Nick Lowe - Songwriter, Franco Migliacci - Songwriter, Domenico Modungno - Songwriter, Angela Morley - Songwriter, Robert Palmer - Songwriter, Beatrice Reading - Songwriter, Julien Temple - Songwriter, Paul Weller - Songwriter, Jacqueline Young - Songwriter, Peter Frampton - Makeup, John Beard - Production Designer, Oliver Stapleton - Cinematographer, Chris Brown - Producer, Stephen Woolley - Producer, Joanne Woollard - Set Designer, David John - Sound/Sound Designer, Richard Burridge - Screenwriter, Don MacPherson - Screenwriter, Christopher Wicking - Screenwriter, Eric Coates - Featured Music, Walter Donaldson - Featured Music, Jimmy Kennedy - Featured Music, Charles Mingus - Featured Music, Colin MacInnes - Book Author
When Absolute Beginners was released, it received immense coverage in the British media. At the time, the British film industry was perceived as being on the point of collapse (with the recent failure of the film Revolution). However, the movie was panned by critics and became a box office flop. Some of the criticisms included stylistic anachronisms, such as the mini-skirt and decidedly 1980s music from the likes of the Style Council and Sade, the bowdlerisation of Kensit's character (Crepe Suzette had been depicted as a promiscuous negrophile in the book), and the casting of Bowie, who made it a condition of his musical contribution.
Absolute Beginners has subsequently gained status as a cult movie, in part due to its soundtrack. Some people compare the movie as the British equivalent of Streets of Fire, a 1984 American movie that was a retro-stylized rock movie with a notable soundtrack, also a commercial failure.
The commercial failure of Absolute Beginners and another film released about the same time, The Mission, led to the collapse of Goldcrest, a major British film studio.
It's 1958 and pop culture is transforming from 1950s jazz and early rock to a new generation on the verge of the 1960s. London is post-World War II, but pre-Beatles and the Stones. The storyline incorporates elements of 1958 London racial riots.
Young hip photographer Colin falls in love with aspiring fashion designer Crepe Suzette, but she's only interested in her career. Colin tries to win her affections by taking a crack at the big time himself; meanwhile racial tensions heat up in Colin's neighbourhood of London.
Absolute Beginners: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was concurrently released to promote the film. Aside from the plethora of music from contributing artists, the musical score was composed by Gil Evans. David Bowie's title track, Ray Davies' Quiet Life and the Style Council's songs were released as singles. Tracks 11-18 were exclusive to the CD version.
