Absolute Beginners

when you remove aliens and flying space ships from battlefield earth and put god awful music scores and terrible acting in it what do you have? a stupid musical that stars david bowie and some other actors in it that do a terrible job of acting stupid and crummy in a musical that should have been called absolute bummed out.

I had just graduated high school(in California) when this movie came out, in the summer of 1986. Given the heavy promotion given it by MTV(I believe they had a contest whose winner would appear in the film, though I may have remembered that wrong), and given that David Bowie, whose music career was on the upswing, had a starring role(along with a mix of musicians like veteran Ray Davies(of the Kinks) and newcomer Sade), you'd expect the movie would be a hit. Instead, it barely made a dent in America(in their year-end issue, Rolling Stone called it one of the hype jobs of the year), and seems to have been largely forgotten(though in an interview with Rolling Stone about a year later, Bowie claimed it was a cult hit). In fact, while star Patsy Kensit has had an erratic career, Bowie continued to make music and the occasional movie, and director Julien Temple, after this and EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY, went back to his forte, music videos, it's sort of ironic that the most successful person to come from that movie is Robbie Coltrane(TV's CRACKER), who only had a small role here.

Why am I boring you all with this? Because ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS is one of the unsung classics of the 80's. Of course, having grown up on old-time musicals(my dad was a fan), I'm probably more receptive to them than the average person seems to be today, but this is one of the best ones of the last two decades. Not only are all the numbers well-written and well sung(in addition to Bowie, Davies, and Sade, jazz great Gil Evans wrote the instrumental score, and Style Council contributes a song. Also, female lead Patsy Kensit sings one, while male lead Eddie O'Connell lip-syncs his numbers), they're also imaginatively staged. A good example is "Motivation," one of two numbers Bowie sings(the other being the title song), which includes parodies of Busby Berkley-type numbers. There's also a wicked parody of teen pop.

As for the story, Temple has the fine novel to fall back on(by Colin MacInnes), and while there's probably too many ideas trying to burst out(teen alienation, racism, "Selling Out"(the name of another song), he juggles them all with finesse. And the cast handles things with aplomb, with the exception of, surprisingly, Bowie; while he's appropriately super-smooth as the oily executive, his voice(intended to be an American accent?) is annoying. But O'Connell and Kensit are both fresh and appealing, Anita Morris and James Fox both play well in their typecast roles(as, respectively, a sexpot gossip columnist and an effete fashion designer), there's a nice turn by Mandy Rice-Davies(who, you may remember, was in real life involved in the Profumo scandal), and a host of others in small but memorable parts(the ones I can remember are Steven Berkoff(BEVERLY HILLS COP) and Bruce Payne(PASSENGER 57) as fascists, and Paul Rhys(VINCENT AND THEO) as a mod). All in all, well worth tracking down.

A great idea and a huge Brit budget, ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS is so ambitious and so technically well and packed with great 80s Soho jazz musical numbers that it forgets to include the hooks for an audience. It is actually for people in theater and film who love musicals and the techniques. It isn't for the general ticket buying public who expect a conventional story with a structure. The lead actor Eddie OConnell is a bit Ken doll or even Cliff Richard...maybe that is the point but he is lacking in charisma. Visually it is a feast and musically it is very engaging, but like the Minnelli musicals YOLANDA AND THE THIEF or THE PIRATE and the Brit satire Ken Russell musical THE BOYFRIEND or John Waters 1988 film of HAIRSPRAY there has to be a strong core to break though to mainstream cinema goers; otherwise, like those films, it is relegated to cult interest and the 'noble failure' bin. In time it will be a quintessential 80s style musical and we are not far enough away from then yet. It also cost a massive amount and lost it all, killing off the studio that financed the $15m.... ugh. If made today, it would be financed by Absolute Vodka and marketed with panache, finding a huge multiplex audience and making zillions of dollars for all concerned...thus being hailed as a success and a masterpiece.

Julien Temple's extravagant musical adaptation of the classic Colin MacInnes novel never reached the audience it deserved, but it could be that filmgoers of the 1980's weren't ready for the breathless bravado of Temple's vision. A hyped-up take on the classic Freed Unit musicals at MGM, with a rock/jazz score featuring David Bowie, Sade, Gil Evans, Slim Gaillard and other notables, this movie is a visual feast and a treat for the ears as well.

Sadly, you have to hope for a theatrical screening to take in the extraordinary cinematography (there's an opening extended-take through the crowded streets of London that rivals the opening of "Touch of Evil" in complexity and beauty) because there has never been a letterbox release of the film on video or disc. Where's the DVD with a Temple commentary?

What a Corker of a movie which moves at a lightning pace of youth in the 1950's based on the youth culture book by Colin McInnes. We see the birth of the teenager in Britain wiping away the grey cobwebs of post war Britain and revitalising it with a kaleidoscope of colour. Eddie O'Donnell is the spunky immaculately dressed hedonist who wants to dance and carouse the night away in Swinging London and Patsy Kensit's film debut is superb as Colin'ns(O'Donnel's) sex kitten who's a real temptress. The music score is excellent which interwines with the plot very well and some of London's well known honey pots are featured, like The Wag Club which is sadly no more. Ray Davies actually appears in the film, as does David Bowie and Sade.Not forgetting the great songs by The Style Council and Smiley Culture with an underlying jazz groove by Gil Evans. The Introduction to this movie is one of the best ever and features a cast of thousands. Congratulations Julian Temple on this aesthetic musical delight.