Sid And Nancy (DVD)

=== SID AND NANCY ===




Sid and Nancy was released in 1986 and it chronicles the turbulent life of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungeon. Directed by Alex Cox. (Repo Man) It falls under the Biography/Drama/Music genre. Not so much a film of the Sex Pistols, but more of a modern day "Punk version of 'Romeo and Juliet". Morbid in it's context it takes us deep into the world of hard drugs, and their devastating ...
...charts the time of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungeon whilst in New York. Having met met in London, after groupie Nancy had flown in from America, on a mission to bed one of the infamous 'Sex Pistols', which was her favourite band, Sid and Nancy immediately become totally inseparable. She was highly impressed with their wild on and offstage antics, and their ideals of antimonarchy, anti suppression and anti racism. Being anti-establishment all round, ... more

SID AND NANCY

Sid and Nancy was released in 1986 and it chronicles the turbulent life of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungeon. Directed by Alex Cox. (Repo Man) It falls under the Biography/Drama/Music genre. Not so much a film of the Sex Pistols, but more of a modern day "Punk version of 'Romeo and Juliet". Morbid in it's context it takes us deep into the world of hard drugs, and their devastating effects. -

This is a film that charts the time of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungeon whilst in New York. Having met met in London, after groupie Nancy had flown in from America, on a mission to bed one of the infamous 'Sex Pistols', which was her favourite band, Sid and Nancy immediately become totally inseparable. She was highly impressed with their wild on and offstage antics, and their ideals of antimonarchy, anti suppression and anti racism. Being anti-establishment all round, with two fingers up at the system, the punk band spat at people when on stage, faked cutting their wrists, and basically pushed the boundaries of anything that was of the norm. Their following was huge, and they captured the imagination of the youth culture of their day with their couldn't give a toss attitude .

The film opens in the latter stages of the film, in a run down bathroom of the Chelsea Hotel, New York. The film immediately resorts to the use of flashback, and begins to tell us the grim tale of the fated lovers, Sid and Nancy. Sid Vicious (Gary Oldman) was the bassist with the 'Sex Pistols', a famous 1970's Anarchic Punk/Rock band, and Nancy (Chloe Webb) was fascinated with the whole Rock/Punk culture, and all it stood for. Her original plan was to get it on with Johnny Rotten (Named so because of his rotten teeth), which backfired when he saw through her shallow exterior, so she then turned her attentions to the young, impressionable, and more vulnerable member of the band, Sid Vicious. Attempts from the other members of the band to split this duo up, fail, and Nancy get her claws deeper, and deeper into the compliant Sex Pistol. Sid immediately becomes dependant on, and totally obsessed with Nancy, and thus begins the co-dependency of their obsessive love. Nancy Spungeon was a hardened heroin user, on the streets of America from the age of fifteen, and prostituting herself to fund her drug habit. Sid is eager to be on her mental level, and so begins his dangerous, self destructive journey into the world of class A drugs.

The pairs downward spiral into the depths of self destruction is hard to watch at times, and I felt a great pity for Sid, watching Nancy drag him down with her. Acting as his manager whilst in New York works for a while, and Nancy manages to get him a few low key gigs, but with drugs taking their inevitable toll on him, Sid's impetus to perform takes a back seat to his heroin addiction, which is becoming more debilitating day by day. There is a surreal quality to this film, as parts of it we are watching through the drug induced blur they are portraying. Dreamlike and painfully slow I begin to understand the assault to reality that drugs can incur to the user. This is well shown and I found a huge sympathy for the young singer struggling to retain some kind of normal existence

Both actors give fine performances as the drug dependent pair. This film shows well the sordid, downward plunge from reality that drugs induce, and it portrays well the inactivity and lethargy that heroin poses to the user. The director Alan Cox wanted to highlight this, and he did a good job of showing the world of drugs in an unglamorous light, which was his main intention. Cox told the New Musical Express: "We wanted to make the film not just about Sid Vicious and punk rock, but as an anti-drugs statement, to show the degradation caused to various people is not at all glamorous."

The moral of this biography is quite clear and self evident, as inevitably the drug riddled, ill fated pair end up broke, and suicidal in room 100 of the Chelsea Hotel, New York. This hotel seems to have attracted a lot of singers and musicians, Leonard Cohen penned his well known 'Chelsea Hotel' when staying there "I remember you well in the Chelsea hotel, you were famous your heart was a legend", which he wrote about the ill fated singer, and hard drug user, Janis Joplin.

I thought 'Sid and Nancy' was a brilliant account of the couples relationship . Both performances were very well acted out. The film portrayed the degradation, and grimness of the drug world really well. I found it fascinating, and it is a film that I have watched many times. It's an age old tale of love, but set amidst the late 70's drug and music scene, made for compelling viewing for me. There is a scene in the film where the pair come across some kids on the street who are playing Hip-Hop music, and in that instant Sid realises with sadness that Punk is dead. This is a really profound moment in the film, and one that every musician can relate to, one which can signal an end to their career.

Courtney Love auditioned for the role of Nancy, and seemed to be the directors choice after she gave a brilliant audition in which she threatened to kill the producers if she didn't get the part, even stating "I 'am' Nancy Spungeon". I could see her playing this part, but pressure by the producers meant that Alan Cox had to choose an actress with more 'acting ability'. Cox did however write a small part especially for Courtney as one of the couples junkie friends. Ironically Love become involved in a relationship with singer Kurt Cobain some years later, which bears an uncanny paradox with the Sid and Nancy story, and did in fact end in a similar tragedy.

The playing of the two main parts was first class, and Gary Oldman dedicating himself to the part, went on a strict diet of fish and melon, so he could fit the emaciated image of Sid Vicious, before filming begun. He went a little too far in the dieting stakes, and had to be hospitalised for his drastic weight loss. The mother of Vicious gave Oldman Sid's heavy chain and padlock to wear for the film, and Oldman gave his heart and soul to the portrayal of the character. Similarly Chloe Webb gave a superb performance as the American junkie, though in the end was slightly outclassed by Oldmans fantastic portrayal of Sid Vicious. David Hayman is brilliant in the part of the eccentric Malcolm McClaren. His performance is almost like watching the man himself.

Originally titled 'Love Kills', hence the title track by Joe Strummer (The Clash), this is a hard hitting film and a fine production all round. The soundtrack is supplied in part by The Pogues, Pray for Rain, and Joe Strummer. This is one hell of a film, and I recommend it to all. Criticised heavily in some quarters with the claims that the film had many inaccuracies, and events were not shown in the right order, it's critics include the Sex Pistols themselves who were not asked for their collaboration in the making of Sid and Nancy. When interviewed after the completion of the making of the film John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) had this to say: "To me this movie is the lowest form of life. I honestly believe that it celebrates heroin addiction." "The final irony is that I still get asked questions about it. I have to explain that it's all wrong. It was all someone else's fu*king fantasy, some Oxford graduate who missed the punk rock era. The ba*tard."

Running Time: 112 minutes.
BBFC rating: PG.

Directed by
Alex Cox
Produced by
Eric Fellner
Written by
Alex Cox
Abbe Wool

Starring
Gary Oldman
Chloe Webb
David Hayman
Debby Bishop
Andrew Schofield

Thank you for reading
Electra 2008* 

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