Good Choice: The Filth and the Fury
10 Nov
I’ve been sick for the past few days, which means when I haven’t been sleeping I’ve been watching TV. Lots of TV. The Sex Pistols documentary The Filth and the Fury was paired with 24 Hour Party People on IFC this weekend and I watched them both twice. Facking brilliant!
I’d seen 24HPP before, but TFATF was new to me. I highly recommend it, especially in light of the recent post about primary source research. The trailer (see below) tries to sell you on punk rock sensationalism, but in reality this film is a nerd’s paradise of found footage, meticulous research, and curatorial choice. You don’t have to care a fig about the music or the subculture to appreciate (and learn from) TFATF’s artistry.
Director Julien Temple also gets huge marks for making one of the best creative choices I’ve seen in a documentary in years: Everyone who is interviewed for the film remains in shadow. All the surviving Sex Pistols participated in the doc, and while you see the silhouettes of their bodies and hear their voices, you never see their faces.
As a result you stay in period. It’s 1977. England is falling apart. Johnny Rotten is fresh and feral. The other guys are . . . well, other guys. (But at least they’re other guys who don’t ruin the mood by looking bloated and saggy.) Toward the end of the film you expect (and maybe even want) the light to finally come on so you can see them now. But it never happens. Nice.
It’s easy to get caught up in the Big Idea. But sometimes it’s small, brave choices like this one that make a piece gel in surprising ways. Next time you sit down to whatever you’re working on, look for an opportunity to make a choice like this. What can you take away? What might its absence add?
And now, ladies and gentlemen, the trailer for The Filth and the Fury:
I love this! I’m becoming increasingly convinced that in writing, like in marriage, success depends largely upon what you don’t say.
And as a punk rock fanatic, I simply MUST watch it!