THE FILTH AND THE FURY (2000) / ***
Directed by Julien Temple. Starring John Lydon, Paul Cook, Steve Jones. Running time: 108 minutes. Rated R by the MFCB. Reviewed on September 20th, 2000.
By SHANNON PATRICK SULLIVAN
"The Filth And The Fury" is director Julien Temple's uncompromising chronicle of the notorious, short-lived, but incredibly influential punk rock band, the Sex Pistols. Formed out of the social transformation and unrest that characterised Britain in the 1970s, the Sex Pistols existed for only about two years and released just one album in that time. They were torn apart as much by inner strife and a propensity for self-destruction as by any external pressures. But they gave a voice, an outlet to the chaos gripping the youth and the lower classes of the time, and are still remembered as one of the most culturally important acts in modern music history.
Much in the style of the Pistols themselves, "The Filth And The Fury" is a frenzied, at times disorienting piece of filmmaking. Temple eschews any sort of clear-cut, linear history of the band in favour of something more representative and anarchic. He skips from interview to interview, clip to clip, event to event almost without warning. The faces and milestones do not present themselves as distinct facts to be absorbed, but instead the whole movie blurs into a surreal impression of those two heady years -- some good, a lot of bad, and a generous helping of weird.
Temple draws his material from a variety of sources. There are modern-day interviews with the surviving Pistols: John Lydon, the erstwhile Johnny Rotten; Paul Cook; Steve Jones; and original bassist Glen Matlock. All four are filmed with severe backlighting, obscuring their faces, as if seeing the Sex Pistols in middle age would somehow diminish their mystique. There is also a 1978 interview with the late Sid Vicious, who replaced Matlock, recorded shortly after the Pistols broke up. Commentary from the band's notorious manager, Malcolm McLaren, airs over scenes of a man in bondage garb -- emblematic of McLaren's own fetishistic tendencies. Temple contrasts this with news reports of the time, cartoons of the Pistols, and even clips from the Laurence Olivier version of "Richard III".
Fortunately, "The Filth And The Fury" is not a fanboy's version of Pistol history, but instead takes a seemingly honest and frank view of their time on the stage. Witness, for example, Lydon's critique of his own lyrics for "Anarchy In The UK", admitting to the terribly forced nature of the central "anarchist"/"Antichrist" rhyme. Some events would appear almost too ridiculous to be believed if they hadn't actually happened: A TV interview in which the Sex Pistols taunt and swear at the host, who is as inebriated as they are. The refusal of major music magazines to list "God Save The Queen (She Ain't No Human Being)" as the UK's number one album, resulting in a blank space at the top of the charts that week. The Pistols'signing by a record label, only to be dropped twenty-four hours later (the film keeps almost mirthful track of how much money the band racks up thanks to their association with no less than three different labels, although in reality it was McLaren who pocketed the vast majority).
There is also little reticence in Temple's portrayal of the Sex Pistols' final months: Of the conflicts between those who supported McLaren (Cook and Jones) and those who wanted to oust him (Rotten and Vicious). Of the ill-fated American tour which finally shattered the band once and for all (culminating in a notorious one-song performance in which Rotten asked the audience ironically, "Did you ever get the feeling you were being cheated?"). And of Sid Vicious' relationship with the seemingly universally-reviled Nancy Spungeon, which many believe contributed to his debilitating drug addiction.
It is Vicious' story which is without doubt the most bizarre, even though he did not became a Sex Pistol until long after the group's formation. Hired more for his looks than his dubious musical talent (Lydon notes that sometimes they wouldn't even plug in Vicious' bass because he played it so poorly), he became as synonymous with the Sex Pistols as Johnny Rotten. Soon, though, the combination of his newfound fame and his romance with Spungeon led to a heroin habit, souring his relationship with his bandmates (it is interesting to note that, despite the rebellious nature of the Sex Pistols, they are portrayed here as taking a dim view of hard drugs). Months after the dissolution of the group, Spungeon was found brutally murdered and Vicious was arrested for the crime. Before his guilt or innocence could be established, Vicious himself would die of an overdose. Those unfamiliar with the Sex Pistols may find the persistent references to Vicious at the start of the film somewhat confusing; their patience pays off by the end, however, as Temple paints a dramatic portrait of the man -- the "poor sod", Lydon mourns.
If "The Filth And The Fury" has a failing, it is that it satisfies itself with chronicling only the years when the Sex Pistols were together, neglecting the legacy the band left which would continue to be influential long afterward. Temple seems to agree with Lydon's assertion that the Sex Pistols "had to end when it did" ("but not how it did", he continues) because they were starting to become as institutionalised as the cultural sacred cows they were railing against -- inspiring fashion trends, for example, an event which almost seems to mock the true, destitute origins of the Pistols' ragged dress sense. But he does not pursue this to its natural conclusion, by investigating how the Sex Pistols would be perceived over the ensuing two decades.
The fundamental question of why the Sex Pistols are important, and why they deserve to be documented in a movie like this, is never really addressed. Whether this is because Temple assumes we already know the answer, or whether he simply doesn't feel it's germane to his film, is not clear. Nonetheless, "The Filth And The Fury" ends feeling incomplete -- like a movie review with too much synopsis and not enough critique, perhaps.
Copyright © 2000 Shannon Patrick Sullivan. Archived at The Popcorn Gallery, http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sps/movies/TheFilthAndTheFury.html
_______________________________________________________________________ / Shannon Patrick Sullivan | "We are all in the gutter, but some of us \ | shannon@mun.ca | are looking at the stars." - Oscar Wilde | \___________________________|__________________________________________/ | Popcorn Gallery Movie Reviews www.physics.mun.ca/~sps/movies.html | | Doctor Who: A Brief History of Time (Travel) /drwho.html |
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