The scene is Manchester and a perfect stage for modern art. From one of England's industrial heartlands comes some of the best music and film productions.
Real Life + Thereafter - Magazine. A Wire-Sound production, with Graeme Oxby directing and a close friend of the band, releasing a perfect performance from the band. Devoto is flying here in his Dostoevsky prose and the band provide a flawless sound. Noko succeeds in replacing the legendary McGeoch. The feeling you get from this show is how brilliant Magazine made post-punk music.
Item: A Collection and The New Order Story - New Order . A lot of the videos are repeated on the DVD package but all in all it's a pretty good catalogue of memories from the 80s to the present day. The lads are very witty on the New Order Story but the whole production seems at times too Americanized. New Order have always been a band that I enjoy and I hope they get together for another album.
Control - a film by Anton Corbijn. Anton excels in his first production, shot in monochrome and a success at the 62nd Cannes film festival. The source of the film is of course Deborah Curtis' biopic on her husband's life and career. It's one of the most moving and tragic stories ever filmed. The actors are well selected. Spot on.
Twenty Four Hour Party People - a film by Michael Winterbottom . If there's a film about "Madchester" then this is it. The highlight of course is Steve Coogan as Tony Wilson. Often exaggerated but hilarious and very accurate at times. Although, Control is more accurate in depicting the Joy Division members.
Chris
