I don't often go to the cinema the days - there's not much on that I want to see, really - but there's been a few new films that I couldn't stay away from recently, beginning with a new documentary about Suzi Quatro.
'Suzi Q' is a full length documentary about the life and times of Suzi Quatro. I was lucky enough to see a screening followed by a Q&A with Suzi herself. I nearly saw Suzi for the first time back in 1972 when she was third on the bill behind Thin Lizzy and both supported SLADE on tour - I saw nearly since my parents decided I was too young to go to a gig on my own back then. 1973 was Suzi's year when she broke into the charts around the world with 'Can The Can' and went on to have a string of hits followed by acting in 'Happy Days' on TV and then on stage with 'Annie Get Your Gun' and all sorts of adventures.
It's a very thorough document of Suzi's early years, firstly as a member of the Pleasure Seekers in the late '60s and then coming over to London with Micky Most to start a solo career in the early '70s. There's a lot about her family and the jealousies that created when she broke away, and that's understandable. It did rather skate over the later years with only brief mentions of her continuing touring in Europe and Australia - she still sells out huge gigs in Oz on her tours there - and records and her autobiography over the last decade or so.
There were some lovely snippets of other 'names' talking about her, from Don Powell of SLADE and Andy Scott of Sweet (with whom she delivered a record a few years ago as QSP), all the Runaways, Debbie Harry, Tina Weymouth and Chris Franz of Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club and others. Her former husband and lead guitarist Len Tuckey featured and it was great to hear his honesty about her career. There were also some great video clips and photos of Suzi in her heyday that I'd never seen before. I thought it was a very good documentary - surprisingly good - that is well worth seeing. There was also a Q&A after the screening.
Another new film is 'Seberg', a film about three critical years in the life of Jean Seberg in the late '60s when she was hounded by the FBI in America for the crime of having a social conscience and donating money to 'right on' organisations. Jean became an instant hit when she played Joan of Arc on the big screen and remained a star in France while being a 'B' lister in America. In 1968 she started to support civil rights and equality groups including the Black Panthers and that's when the FBI started to take notice of her and decided to discredit her in any way they could. I suppose her only crime was that she wasn't a big enough star to be able to shrug off their attempts to trash her.
It's a sad tale in many respects and is selective in it's portrayal of her life but the facts of what happened are largely accurate. Jean died later in the '70s and is buried in Montparnasse in Paris. Kristen Stewart plays Jean and she's very effective playing the young actress caught up in a much bigger picture. I saw an early screening at the BFI as part of the London Film Festival and the film will be released next year in 2020.
Another film screened as part of the London Film Festival was 'White Riot' about the Rock Against Racism movement in the late '70s, with the title taken from the song of the same name by The Clash. It tells the story of the rise of racism in the mid to late '70s and the rise of the National Front, the racist, fascist political party that was roundly defeated in the 1979 election. Rock Against Racism was a grassroots movement that played it's part by mobilising music, bands and their fans to combat the everyday racism of the time. The film culminated with the Rock Against Racism gig in Victoria Park in London in 1978 with X-Ray Spex, The Clash, Steel Pulse and the Tom Robinson Band amongst others - punk and reggae always hand in hand. The sad thing is that there is so little video footage of the gig but we saw Jimmy Pursey singing 'White Riot' with The Clash on stage and some great photos of Poly Styrene and X-Ray Spex.
Rock Against Racism was everywhere in the late '70s, along with the Anti-Nazi League, and this film tells us how it came to be. How do organisations like this come into being? Someone has to have the initial idea, someone has to name it, produce a logo or sign for it, put up the first posters and put on the first gig. And that's what we learn in this film, how a rock photographer called Red Saunders and a small group of friends and activists attracted others and a cause was born.
It was a fascinating film to watch, a bit of time travel back to the '70s. I'd forgotten how grey everything was back then, how casual racism was everywhere, the potential for violence and so-called politicians were able to talk about 're-partriation' of British citizens on TV, it was all very odd by today's standards. It also felt very current in some ways with the racism of brexit and the gradual rise of another grassroots movement in Extinction Rebellion.
'Suzi Q' is a full length documentary about the life and times of Suzi Quatro. I was lucky enough to see a screening followed by a Q&A with Suzi herself. I nearly saw Suzi for the first time back in 1972 when she was third on the bill behind Thin Lizzy and both supported SLADE on tour - I saw nearly since my parents decided I was too young to go to a gig on my own back then. 1973 was Suzi's year when she broke into the charts around the world with 'Can The Can' and went on to have a string of hits followed by acting in 'Happy Days' on TV and then on stage with 'Annie Get Your Gun' and all sorts of adventures.It's a very thorough document of Suzi's early years, firstly as a member of the Pleasure Seekers in the late '60s and then coming over to London with Micky Most to start a solo career in the early '70s. There's a lot about her family and the jealousies that created when she broke away, and that's understandable. It did rather skate over the later years with only brief mentions of her continuing touring in Europe and Australia - she still sells out huge gigs in Oz on her tours there - and records and her autobiography over the last decade or so.
There were some lovely snippets of other 'names' talking about her, from Don Powell of SLADE and Andy Scott of Sweet (with whom she delivered a record a few years ago as QSP), all the Runaways, Debbie Harry, Tina Weymouth and Chris Franz of Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club and others. Her former husband and lead guitarist Len Tuckey featured and it was great to hear his honesty about her career. There were also some great video clips and photos of Suzi in her heyday that I'd never seen before. I thought it was a very good documentary - surprisingly good - that is well worth seeing. There was also a Q&A after the screening.
Another new film is 'Seberg', a film about three critical years in the life of Jean Seberg in the late '60s when she was hounded by the FBI in America for the crime of having a social conscience and donating money to 'right on' organisations. Jean became an instant hit when she played Joan of Arc on the big screen and remained a star in France while being a 'B' lister in America. In 1968 she started to support civil rights and equality groups including the Black Panthers and that's when the FBI started to take notice of her and decided to discredit her in any way they could. I suppose her only crime was that she wasn't a big enough star to be able to shrug off their attempts to trash her.It's a sad tale in many respects and is selective in it's portrayal of her life but the facts of what happened are largely accurate. Jean died later in the '70s and is buried in Montparnasse in Paris. Kristen Stewart plays Jean and she's very effective playing the young actress caught up in a much bigger picture. I saw an early screening at the BFI as part of the London Film Festival and the film will be released next year in 2020.
Rock Against Racism was everywhere in the late '70s, along with the Anti-Nazi League, and this film tells us how it came to be. How do organisations like this come into being? Someone has to have the initial idea, someone has to name it, produce a logo or sign for it, put up the first posters and put on the first gig. And that's what we learn in this film, how a rock photographer called Red Saunders and a small group of friends and activists attracted others and a cause was born.
It was a fascinating film to watch, a bit of time travel back to the '70s. I'd forgotten how grey everything was back then, how casual racism was everywhere, the potential for violence and so-called politicians were able to talk about 're-partriation' of British citizens on TV, it was all very odd by today's standards. It also felt very current in some ways with the racism of brexit and the gradual rise of another grassroots movement in Extinction Rebellion.
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