Coming in at four in our countdown to find the best music movies is Michael Winterbottom's 2002 24 Hour Party People.The film revolves around Tony Wilson and the Manchester music scene that kicked off in the 1970s with the likes of Joy Division and The Happy Mondays.A sprawling, visceral tribute to the legendary Manchester music scene that flourished between the years of 1976 and 1992, 24 Hour Party People recreates that influential era with reckless exuberance. In order to bring structure to the tale, Winterbottom and screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce focus their attentions on Tony Wilson (Steve Coogan), the man who was responsible for making it all happen. Tony Wilson is an ambitious but frustrated local TV news reporter looking for a way to make his mark.After witnessing a life-changing concert by an unknown band called the Sex Pistols, he persuades his station to televise one of their performances, and soon Manchester's punk groups are clamouring for him to manage them.
Reporter by day, Wilson led a notorious double life as band manager (Joy Division, the Happy Mondays, James), label president (Factory Records), and club owner (The Hacienda).
Fiercely determined and dangerously stubborn, Wilson's energy gave an entire subculture of Manchester youths their place in the spotlight, forever changing the face of popular music in the process.
Shot by acclaimed cinematographer Robby Muller in faded digital video, Winterbottom's pulsating film tears through its subject matter like an ecstasy induced history lesson.
Starring Steve Coogan, Paddy Considine, John Simm, Shirley Henderson and John Thompson the film was often cut with contemporary concert footage, including the famous Sex Pistols gig at the Lesser Free Trade Hall.
The film is a great nostalgia trip as many of the movers and shakers of the Manchester scene, including Wilson himself who narrates, make cameos throughout the film.
While the film fails to delve deeper into the characters of the era 24 Hour Party People is a celebration of the music scene of the time for the fans of madchester.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw