Review of 24 Hour Party People (2002) by Manny C — 30 Dec 2010

Here's a real rock and roll movie. Michael Winterbottom's 24 Hour Party People looks at the rise of the Manchester rock scene through the drug-addled eyes of Tony Wilson, played with blazing wit and smarts by Steve Coogan. Coogan is dynamite as Wilson, the television journalist who founded Factory Records after witnessing a Sex Pistols show in Manchester. 'There were thirty-odd people there, but how many people were at the Last Supper?' Wilson observes to the camera.

Energized by the sounds of British punk, Wilson and his mates Alan Erasmus and Rob Gretton sign up groups like The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays (whose song 24 Hour Party People inspired the title) and the iconic Joy Division, later New Order after lead singer Ian Curtis killed himself just before the group was set to tour America. Wilson was a true eccentric. He didn't believe in contracts. His belief in artistic freedom caused him to go broke after opening The Hacienda, where is love for sex, drugs and rock and roll destroyed his marriage. The party eventually ended around 1992. Party People is no mere rock and roll fable. The script from Manchester natives Winterbottom and writer Frank Cottrell Boyce play fast and loose. Robert Muller's incredible digital cinematography evokes the period beautifully. Here is a movie like the music it salutes: funny, dark, witty, outspoken and unapologetic.