24 Hour Party People – 2002 | 117mins | Musical, Drama | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Best known for art-house films like Wonderland, Michael Winterbottom has stamped this docudrama with a similar digital video filmed grainy look. Set between the mid-1970s and early-1990s, the film pays homage to a city that was the heart of the UK’s music scene. Using Factory Records deliberately maverick label boss Tony Wilson (Steve Coogan) as both it’s pivot and antihero, 24 Hour Party People recalls the local music scene whilst charting the rise and fall of Wilson’s label with spectacular results.

Wilson, at first a young reporter for Granada TV, goes to a Sex Pistols gig at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in 1976 and his life is changed forever. He forms Factory Records, and signs up his first group, Joy Division. Following the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis (Sean Harris) the remnants of the group become New Order, with Ian Sumner (John Simm) taking over as lead singer. Wilson never gives up his day job, so in between the sex, drugs and rock’n'roll he interviewed Sir Keith Joseph and did regional news slots about elephants and dwarves. Fast-forwarding to the late 1980′s and Manchester has become Madchester. Wilson opens his infamous club, The Hacienda, the epicentre of hedonistic rave culture – and signs a shambolic young band called The Happy Mondays. Eventually the party must end, and Wilson’s lack of business acumen brings both the club and record label, like the Madchester scene itself, to a close.

Rather than an accurate rockumentary it is an irreverent nostalgia trip containing some great music but rather chaotic storytelling. Maybe the story is culturally significant enough to deserve being told again in a straightforward documentary. 24 Hour Party People attempts to meld documentary and satire, and as a result develops into a muddled movie with no real sense of purpose.