Sunday, November 11, 2007

"If you were ugly, you were in."



Like the rest of surly writer nation, I'm tired of looking at visual solution ads created for non-clients in Argentina and Cairo. In fact, I'm kind of tired of looking at ads.

In an effort to wipe the slate clean I've been on a documentary film marathon. Fellow beast Jake Mancaster and I went to see the matinee showing of Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten. An excellent film, the documentary tracks Joe's upbringing and the periods before, during and after The Clash. More than 60 musicians, friends and family members discuss Joe in an intimate and endearing way, sans the "names and title" lower third graphic seen in most documentary films. You don't need to know who everybody is, to understand Joe's influence and icon status. Director Julien Temple does a brilliant job at capturing Joe's "fire" through campfire interviews with the various talking heads.

Some of the more interesting points in the film document Joe's life before The Clash as a squatter hippy turned politico, and the story of his brother's mysterious interest in Nazism before he overdosed and committed suicide.

Highly recommended, jerks.

4 comments:

R. Falch said...

Joe's post-Clash career is highly underrated.

I especially like that one album with the orange cover.

R. Falch said...

Did you cry on each other's shoulders?

I would have been bawling like a little girl.

Anonymous said...

I cried. Brew acted all tough and shit.

R. Falch said...

I don't think cyborgs are able to cry now that I think about it.