TWENTY FOUR HOUR PARTY PEOPLE (SPECIAL EDITION 2-DISC SET includes over 8 hours of bonus material) - DVD Region 2 - £19.99

* Stars; Steve Coogan, Ralf little, Paddy Considine, and Peter Kay.

* Directed by: Michael Winterbottom

* Running Time: Approx. 112 Mins (Colour)

* Contains: Some very strong language, some moderate nudity (wahey!), mild but infrequent violence, and sight of hard drug use (not to be condoned ... nudity ok though!)

Wad's it awl abowt then?

Twenty Four Hour Party is an excellent British film that documents a seminal period in British popular music and culture, with a music scene that was born in Manchester, or Mad-Chester arrrr kid, as Oasis would later drawl.

Hailing from the North-West myself, more specifically Liverpool (Although, unfortunately I haven't lived there for over 10 years now), I was fascinated by this film when it was released at the cinema. I was big into the music, but my coming of age did not quite coincide with the first period of popularity for the Hacienda club featured in the film..... Gutted ! Indeed, my fascination was heightened by my birthright, in so much as Liverpool and Manchester produced many of the leading cutting-edge bands of the time, helping to shape the face of music cultutre in the UK. During the mid 80's, the most relevant period covered in the film, there was a sustained period of high unemployment in the north-west and, again, more specifically Liverpool. Therefore, all people generally had was football and music. If you read any North-West football fanzine, you will note that many writers and themes relate to music and gigs, rather than just pure football. In fact, this close link between music and football is usually quite aptly demonstrated on the popular Saturday morning Sky sports television programme "Soccer AM", which sees a current musical band as guests on the programme very week.

The film focuses on the life of Cambridge educated Anthony Wilson, or Tony, who is played by Steve Coogan, more noteably famous for his Alan Partridge character. In fact, apparently, Coogan originally based his Alan Partridge character on Tony Wilson, which I only actually heard about over Christmas. Prior to this unknown piece of knowledge, I had felt Coogan's performance was too similar to Alan Partirdge and that he was obviously to type-cast and thus lacked the ability to extend his range beyond this. I did feel that his portrayal of Tony Wilson was excellent, except for the Alan Patridge-isms. However, with the recent knowledge in mind, I can now re-evaluate and conclude that Steve Coogan provides a fantastic portrayal of the character of Tony Wilson, after all he has had many years of practice with his various Alan Partridge programmes.

For those in the north-west unfamilair with Tony's wider interests and central involvement in the Manchester music scene, he was and remains well known as a TV presenter on the ITV regional news programme "Granada Reports". In fact, the rather comic opening scene involves Tony Wilson hand-gliding for a piece recorded for Granada reports, with original footage of the real Tony Wilson in quite some distress cut into the scene. Genius and highly amusing !

In fact, other than Steve Coogan, there are some fantastic performances in the film, none more so than the relatively unknown Sean Harris playing Ian Curtis, lead singer and songwriter for Joy Division. Ian Curtis was quite a quiet yet very intense person with many quirky personality traits, and it was certainly a challenging role for any actor to play, but Sean carried it off and helped to portray Ian in the manner to which most people who knew him, had become accustomed.

The film focusses upon Anthony Wilson and his influence on the Manchester music scene throughout the 80's, with Steve Coogan narrating at relevant points during the film, providing additional background and reasoning for the events unfolding on screen, which I found to be very usueful. The film is basically a documentary, covering this period of Anthony Wilson's life.

The beginning of the film sees Tony and his - then - wife in attendance at one of the first ever Sex Pistols gigs, in what looks like a church or school hall. This gig totally inspires Tony to become a promoter. He and his friends set up a record label, "Factory Records", signing first "Joy Division" (who went on to become the hugely successful New Order after the tragic suicide of front man Ian Curtis ... If I review one of my New Order albums, then I will give more backgound on this), then solo artist "James", and the "Happy Mondays", who all become seminal artists of their time, and remain firm favourites in the hearts of many people of my age range.

What ensues is a tale of music, sex, drugs, larger-than-life characters, and the birth of one of the most famous dance clubs in the world, "The Hacienda". The film graphically illustrates the music and dance heritage of Manchester throughtout the 1980's and into the 1990's. The club, designed to be a big slap in the face to the estbalished night clubs of the time, was opened in May 1982, and was a completely new and fresh experience for anyone who first ventured there. No one had experienced a night club like this with such a stark industrial design ... vast interior space supported on steel girders of black with yellow safety stripes. It was functional if nothing else ... plenty of room to dance and express yourself. The club become world renowned during it's existence, buidling a reputation from the bands that it signed to play concerts there ... The Smiths, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Echo and the Bunnymen, The La's, The Happy Mondays, The Stone Roses, James, 808 State, Oasis, Blur and many more. I have been fortunate myself to see a numbr of those bands / artists play live, but to have been to the Hacienda would have been a greater buzz. The club grew ever more popular as it accelerated from the 80's into the 90's and the rave craze that was sweeping the nation, with accelerated musical sounds and beats, swept the country. It really was the first of the "Super Clubs", and become one of the first legal "House" clubs, rivalled by the likes of the "Star Club" and "Buzz Club" in Brighton. Due to the drug scene that became synonymous with house music at the time, the club was shut down in 1991 due to an ecstasy related death and an incident whereby security staff where threatened with a machine gun ... pleasant !

The club re-opened in 1992, but never really reached it's former glories, and due to escalating running costs with little income, the club finally shut in 1997. A piece of music history dead and gone. Situated next to Deansgate Locks in the city of Manchester, along which run a number of trendy bars and cafes, the club has now been transformed into modern contemporary city centre apartments, which I personally think it a tragedy.

This is a truly educational and comical film, depicting seminal moments of the the British dance music scene. Everything is born ... 24 Hour Party People focusses upon the birth of a scene that is stronger today than ever before.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Disc 1:
- BIZARRE LOVE TRAINGLE - Audio commentary featuring Tony Wilson / Audio commentary featuring Steve Coogan and Andrew Eaton
- SLEEVE NOTES - Who's who in the 24 Hour Party People
- UNKNOWN PLEASURES - 24 Deleted scenes
- PILLS 'N' THRILLS AND BELLYACHES - Interviews
- NEW ORDER 'HERE TO STAY' MUSIC VIDEO
- 24 FPS - Original theatrical trailer

Disc 2:
- FROM THE FACTORY FLOOR - Commentary by artists and friends from the era including Peter Hook, Rowetta and Martin Moscrop
- PORTRAIT OF A FILM-MAKER - Michael Winterbottom
- PETER SAVILLE GALLERY

The special features are an excellent insight into the characters, movers and shakers of the time, and provide a lot of additional detail and background that simply could not have been covered in the film. The extras are for those avid fans who may also want a deeper look into the characters and occurences of the time, but also provide a lot of additional comedy and are good for a laugh.

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Soundtrack
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As soundtracks go, this is truly fabulous. But then what else would you expect from a film covering a glittering muscial era? the songs covered on the films soundtrack are as follows;

1. Anarchy in the UK - Sex Pistols
2. 24 Hour Party People - Happy Mondays
3. Transmission - Joy Division
4. Ever Fallen In Love - The Buzzcocks
5. Janie Jones - The Clash
6. New Dawn Fades (Live) - New Order feat. Moby, Billy Corgan, John Frusciante
7. Atmosphere - Joy Division
8. Otis - Duritti Column
9. Voodoo Ray - A Guy Called Gerald
10. Temptation - New Order
11. Loose Fit - Happy Mondays
12. Pacific State - 808 State
13. Blue Monday - New Order
14. Move Your Body - Marshall Jefferson
15. She's Lost Control - Joy Division
16. Hallelujah (Club Mix) - Happy Mondays
17. Here To Stay - New Order
18. Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division