Review of Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (2010) by Sergio E — 26 Jun 2011

People unfamiliar with the man and his music might struggle to last the pace as it happen to me but since I have the utmost respect for Punk and everything that has to do with it even that sometimes it doesn't sound like something you would call Punk but that is what makes it more enthralling. Respect is what the filmmakers bring, by the bucket-and-spade, closely aided by Dury's daughter Jemima and son Baxter - now a musician in his own right, who appeared with his dad on the cover of 'New Boots and Panties', looking for all the world like Dodger to Ian's Bill Sikes. And this is really a film about fathers and sons. Bill Milner plays Baxter, a rock star's son going predictably, if spectacularly, off the rails, and Ray Winstone is Ian's adored dad Bill. Between these generational polarities, Ian struggles to reconcile familial responsibilities (and two lovers) with his growing fame, while trying to do right by his father's memory.

"Being an underdog with nothing to lose is a good place to start in life," Bill tells him, teaching him to stand on his own two feet, if only with the aid of calipers. Years later, when too busy to watch over Baxter's swimming session, Ian's glibly departing words are "Keep your head up, keep kicking, and try not to drown." It was in a swimming pool, of course, where Ian contracted polio. As we would say, it was complicated. Dury puts it more bluntly: "To be a geezer like me, you've got to be a bit of a selfish loony; occasionally one's behavior makes one ashamed of oneself.".

All of which probably suggests scenes of anarchic mayhem followed by periods of reflection and redemption. Well, bollocks to that, because this isn't your average rock star biopic either: no insultingly reductive peaks and troughs. As Dury states towards the end of the film, "The only thing I've missed is a few buses." Instead, scenes are introduced, non-linear-fashion, via the appropriate conceit of a stage performance: backdrops spring to life, as real-life morphs into pop videos. There's sterling support too from Naomie Harris as Ian's girlfriend Denise Roudette, and Olivia Williams as his extremely understanding first wife Betty. Actually, being 'extremely understanding' would appear to be the default setting for anybody within this force of nature's sphere.

Thereafter, the film is far more assured, but strangely unmoving on the whole, despite the fact that there are a lot of episodes that could have jerked a tear or two. Little is made of his chart success. Other than the typical excesses that stardom inevitably brings in its wake; rather, the film is much more interested in his complicated love life and (abysmal) family life which lays true the aphorism that what goes around comes around. Actually, it's better for that. In particular the relationship with Dury and his son, Baxter (played brilliantly by Son of Rambow star Bill Milner) is the main thread of the movie. Initially reticent, Baxter becomes increasingly influenced by his rebellious father and follows suit. Again, like Dad, in response to the bullying and humiliation he faced at school.

The cast was very strong, especially the lead role played fantastically well by Andy Serkis, Naomie Harris as Ian's girlfriend Denise and Bill Milner as Ian's son Baxter. The film takes you through Ian Dury's funny / sad / dynamic / and often chaotic life with a collation of live performances, flashbacks and monologues - often driven by the great lyrics of the songs themselves ... this is very well done ... The director moves the film along at a good pace and gets the very best performances out of the actors - and the casting of Andy Serkis as Ian Dury was a masterstroke - I would not be at all surprised if he was nominated for this amazing performance. I would believe that even Ian Drury would have been impressed by Serkis's performance! The finale is really good and pulls together a lot of strands including the Spartacus references that cropped up earlier in the action.

The colourful and fantastical story of Ian Dury, one of England's most original and influential singer-songwriters of the last 30 years. Crippled by polio as a 10-year-old boy and told he would amount... read more to nothing, Dury's dogged determination, perseverance and wit led to him becoming one of the founders of the punk movement in the 1970s.

A biography of Ian Dury who was stricken with polio at a young age and defied expectations by becoming one of the founder of the punk-rock scene in Britain in the 1970s.