Absolute Beginners [Blu-ray]

Director: Julien Temple Julien Temple

Overview

The rise of teen culture in 1950s Britain provides the backdrop for Julien Temple's unconventional rock musical Absolute Beginners. The film centers on Colin, an 18-year-old with a talent for photography and a fondness for the neon nightlife of British jazz clubs. He also is in love with Crepe Suzette, an impulsive, ambitious young beauty who abandons him after attracting the attention of a powerful fashion designer. Depressed and aimless, Colin turns for help to a flashy ad executive (David Bowie) who promises to make him a star photographer. The former lovers take parallel paths to success, capitalizing on the youth mania gripping the nation. The film's nostalgic yet gently satirical look at teen culture is tempered by a recognition of the era's social tension, particularly a disturbing rise in racism. Despite these serious undertones, however, the film tells its story with a colorful vibrancy reminiscent of both MTV and old Hollywood musicals, filled with such show-stopping numbers as a memorable sequence in which Bowie dances on a giant typewriter. Critical reception was mixed, with some hailing the film's spectacular cinematography and ambitious scope, while others found the mixture of tones and style too inconsistent. The film also drew lukewarm response at the box office, with the memorable soundtrack receiving more attention than the film itself.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/09/2023
UPC:	0850035985168
Original Release:	1986
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	Sandpiper Pictures
Language:	English
Time:	1:48:00
Sales rank:	41,412

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

David Bowie	Vendice Partners
Ray Davies	Arthur
Sade	Athene Duncannon
Eddie O'Connell	Colin
Patsy Kensit	Suzette
Tony Hippolyte	Mr. Cool
Steven Berkoff	The Fanatic
James Fox	Henley of Mayfair
Anita Morris	Dido Lament
Eve Ferret	Big Jill
Mandy Rice-Davies	Mum
Graham Fletcher-Cook	Wizard
Joe McKenna	Fabulous Hoplite,Actor
Tenpole Tudor	Ed the Ted
Bruce Payne	Flikker
Alan Freeman	Call-Me-Cobber
Paul Rhys	Dean Swift
Julian Firth	The Misery Kid
Chris Pitt	Baby Boom
Lionel Blair	Harry Charms
Gary Beadle	Johnny Wonder
Robbie Coltrane	Mario
Jess Conrad	Cappuccino Man
Smiley Culture	D.J. Entertainer
Ronald Fraser	Amberly Drove
Slim Gaillard	Party Singer
Irene Handl	Mrs. Larkin
Peter Hugo-Daly	Vern
Susie Figgis	Actor
Amanda Jane Powell	Dorita
G.B.	Zoot
Johnny Shannon	Saltzman
Mary Selway	Actor
Sylvia Syms	Cynthia Eve
Robert Austin	Slim Brother
Jim Dunk	Slim Brother
Johnny Edge	Trader Horn
Carmen Ejogo	Carmen
Paul Fairminer	Eddie Sex
Hugo First	Maltese Lodger
Pat Hartley	Ms. Cool Sr.
Astley Harvey	Mr. Cool Sr.
Colin Jeavons	Pamphleteer
Alfred Maron	Bert the Tailor
Ekow Abban	Santa Lucia Club Owner
Zoot Money	Chez Nobody Barman
Gerry Alexander	Ton-Up Vicar
Sandie Shaw	Baby Boom's Mum
Bruno Tonioli	Maltese Lodger

Technical Credits

Richard Burridge

Don MacPherson

Julien Temple	Director
Chris Brown	Producer
Al Clark	Executive Producer
Robert Devereux	Executive Producer
Nik Powell	Executive Producer
Stephen Woolley	Producer
Richard Burridge	Screenwriter
Don MacPherson	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Julien Temple's wildly stylized musical adaptation of Colin MacInnes' novel is a dazzling blend of music, dance, and visual effects, reminiscent of a two-hour video in the best sense. Set in the pre-swinging London of 1958, it centers on the tribulations of a young working-class photographer (Eddie O'Connell) anxious to impress a former girlfriend (Patsy Kensit) already moving up in the world. Evocative of the Minnelli and Gene Kelly musicals of the '50s, the film also reflects Vegas revues, with a visual style grounded in swooping crane movements and smoothly interlocking tracking shots which never seem to end. As it could be only in Temple's fantasy world, jazz is its lingua franca, with a coruscating patchwork score by the venerable Gil Evans that samples the music of Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, and other luminaries of the period. Given the limitations of O'Connell, Kensit, and the thin script, the film lags when the music stops and they're required to act, but most of the time the director uses them virtually as animatronic figures reacting in the simplest manner to the spectacle constantly spinning about them. In a film that touts the retro appeal of a martini and a smoke, David Bowie's Mephistophilean ad man is an emblem of its fascination with seductive surfaces.

All Movie Guide - Michael Costello