Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Weekend viewing

Sid & Nancy (Alex Cox, 1986)
Didn't really know what to expect from this, but it turned out to be pretty interesting. Certainly not your typical rock biopic; it barely touches on the career of the Sex Pistols, instead zeroing in on the scary and destructive relationship between Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy. Definitely paints a harrowing picture of drug addiction and, indeed, of punk rock. Unlike most movies and books about that time, this film makes it seem like something that was ugly, nihilistic and nasty, not at all something I'd ever want to have been a part of. Of course this is showing the negative, and the reality is somewhere in between this and the nostalgic recollections of some people, but I liked that Cox wasn't afraid to show the darkness in what so many see as this revolutionary social movement. It is a little hard to like Sid or Nancy, but by the end I definitely felt attached to them, and in that sense Cox made an effective film.

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