Review of Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten (2007) by Greg V — 07 Jan 2011

For as much as I love Joe Strummer, for as much as I love The Clash and for as informative as I found Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten, this documentary was a pretentious pile of shit about a seemingly unpretentious man.

The archive and interviews with Strummer and people who worked with and I don't know, actually KNEW Strummer (like Mick Jones, Topper Headon, Jim Jarmusch, Steve Buscemi, etc) were cool, BUT... who's idea was the hobo camp-style interviews? There's a city behind them so I'm guessing they're not camping.

And while we're on the subject of the interviews, why should I give a fuck what Johnny Depp has to say about The Clash? Or The Red Hot Chili Peppers or Bono? Oh, you saw The Clash once? Great, fuck off.

And how about Matt Dillon and John Cusack? You hung out with Strummer once? AWESOME, now fuck off! At the same time its essential viewing for even the most fair-weather of Clash fans. There's just a lot of bullshit to wade through.

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