Rating: 
Summary: Spectacular representation of 1950's British pop culture
Review: "I remember that hot wonderful summer, when the teenage miracle reached full bloom, and everyone in England stopped what they were doing to stare at what had happened."--opening narrationI also remember the number of times I tuned into MTV for David Bowie's video, which included clips from that movie. I finally saw it on TV and I was blown away. Colin is the main character and narrator of this story. It's the long hot summer of 1958. Rationing was over, and Britain was rebuilt, thanks to the Marshall Plan--now it was time for Britain to have fun with their own pop culture explosion. Colin has a lot of colourful friends. There's Wizard, pickpocket and entrepreneur out for a fast pound, Cool, the African trumpet player, the flamboyant Fabulous Hotlife, described as "our own Oscar Wilde," Dean Swift, "a modern jazz creation," and Big Jill, a hefty but friendly lesbian. And yes, there's the luscious Suzette, Colin's love interest, whose wanting to make it to the fashion big-time causes a rift between them. Suzette does make it big, attracting the attention of her boss, Henley of Mayfair (James Fox). She comes onstage in a daring glittering black mini, and does the hot jazz number "Va Va Voom" with some African dancers. Colin spends time taking snaps at the neon glitter and sights of the London nightlife, but doesn't want to go mainstream. "It's not that I've got anything against money. It's just what you have to do to get it." He eventually does pictures for Harry Charms (Lionel Blair), an oily talent searcher and agent with a penchant for young boys. It's actually gratifying when his protege Baby Boom shoves a microphone full force in his happy sacks. And I don't know if anyone noticed, but early in the movie, BB's the schoolboy who ends up picking up Charms' card that Colin throws away. It took me a while to finally realize. Kinks frontman Ray Davies plays Colin's father, a man who lives with his "pre-war photo albums and sad memories." Colin's half-brother Vern is a disgusting, barely human cretin. And his mother (Mandy Rice-Davies of Christine Keeler fame), disillusioned with life, has affairs with the numerous lodgers. The cutaway tenement for the "Quiet Life" number is a brilliant touch, as is the chaos going on in there. David Bowie has only a small role as Vendice Partners, that seller of dreams, but his musical number "That's Motivation," where he successfully tempts Colin into selling out has a wowser of a set including giant typewriters, a globes with an airplane attached at the equator, an Everest mockup marketing frozen vegetables, and a floor painted to look like a giant 78 record.
Speaking of musicians, Sade doesn't look out of place singing "Killer Blow." She's simply exquisite! Patsy Kensit is so much more ravishing here than she ever was before she went on to Lethal Weapon 2 and Angels And Insects. Eve Ferrett is wonderful as the bubbly Big Jill. Notable cameos include Steven Berkoff (Clockwork Orange, Beverly Hills Cop) as a Neo-Nazi fanatic presumably modelled after Enoch Powell, Colin Jeavons (House of Cards) as the fanatic's pamphleteer, Julian Firth (Brother Jerome in the Cadfael series) is the Misery Kid, dressed in the skeleton suit, and Robbie Coltrane (Krull, Harry Potter) as Mario the store owner. The hot swing jazz sets the pace of the movie, replicating a slice of England sadly long gone. A real blast of a movie.
Rating: 
Summary: A stinker...NOT!
Review: As the former Mr. Zimmerman opined, "don't criticize what you can't understand." At least that's my take on Henna's slam at Absolute Beginners, which echoes the slagging the movie suffered when it was released. For moviegoers who bought their tickets expecting a new Bowie video, the movie surely must have been bewildering: no slo-mo martini glasses, New Romantic geometric updos, or other soon-to-be MTV cliches. Instead, Julien Temple actually tried to make a modern musical with '50s, '60s, and '80s musical styles while taking a hard look at prejudice and greed in London B. B. (Before the Beatles). Pundits might have pointed out that Broadway itself was already overrun with revivals and special effects, and that Hollywood had given up the ghost on true screen musicals 15 years earlier. When I caught the movie on its first weekend, the crowds were thin. And when we went back for another showing a few days later, the crowd was...well, just US. But artistic bravery does count for something, and Temple won me over in those first breathless minutes as his camera flew through twisting nighttime streets with classic, brassy Mingus wailing from the speakers. If Bowie's slick shtick was diluted by his attempt at an American accent, the rest of the cast was stronger, and Temple earned bonus points for capturing Ray Davies' bittersweet sense of middle class English life in his sequence as Arthur, plus a music scholar's merit badge for slipping in Slim Gaillard as a cameo.
Rating:
Summary: A stinker...NOT!
Review: As the former Mr. Zimmerman opined, "don't criticize what you can't understand." At least that's my take on Henna's slam at Absolute Beginners, which echoes the slagging the movie suffered when it was released. For moviegoers who bought their tickets expecting a new Bowie video, the movie surely must have been bewildering: no slo-mo martini glasses, New Romantic geometric updos, or other soon-to-be MTV cliches. Instead, Julien Temple actually tried to make a modern musical with '50s, '60s, and '80s musical styles while taking a hard look at prejudice and greed in London B. B. (Before the Beatles). Pundits might have pointed out that Broadway itself was already overrun with revivals and special effects, and that Hollywood had given up the ghost on true screen musicals 15 years earlier. When I caught the movie on its first weekend, the crowds were thin. And when we went back for another showing a few days later, the crowd was...well, just US. But artistic bravery does count for something, and Temple won me over in those first breathless minutes as his camera flew through twisting nighttime streets with classic, brassy Mingus wailing from the speakers. If Bowie's slick shtick was diluted by his attempt at an American accent, the rest of the cast was stronger, and Temple earned bonus points for capturing Ray Davies' bittersweet sense of middle class English life in his sequence as Arthur, plus a music scholar's merit badge for slipping in Slim Gaillard as a cameo.
Rating:
Summary: 50's London as you'd want it to be...
Review: Hip photographer, Colin, searches 50's London for latest teen sensations, and finds exploitation, sex, music, disillusionment, loose-morals, fashion and Teds. Great performances from David Bowie as a mid-Atlantic entrepreneur Vendice Partners, Patsy Kensit as the irrepressible Suzette, Lionel Blair, James Fox, an evil Steven Berkoff, soulful Sade, and koolest of Kool Tony Hippolyte. A fantastic Anita Morris, and a near-Oscar-winning Eddie O'Connell leads as Colin. Cameos by Tenpole Tudor, Alan Freeman, Eric Sykes, Robbie Coltrane, Ray Davies and Mandy Rice Davies keep your eyes guessing. The film descends into early racist confrontations with scary results. A must-see-film for contemporary musical lovers! Music from David Bowie (of course), Sade, Style Council, Ray Davies and Eighth Wonder, with Slim Gaillard's brilliant "Selling Out". Watch the movie... See what I mean!,
Rating:
Summary: A taste of the time
Review: I first heard of Absolute Beginners back in 1992 when it played on TV. I watched the first 30 minutes and liked it. Today, I recieved a copy from Amazon so I can see the rest. I wasn't disapointed. Give the film an A for effort as it tries to bring back the musicals of yesterday. Yes, the themes are a little contemporary, but that's the way it was. David Bowie's character is fun to watch, but don't look for him immediately. His first appearance comes 47 minutes into the film. Sade also makes a nice cameo. It's also a delight to see Patsy Kensit given more film time that she has had in blockbusters like Leathal Weapon 2. She holds up to her role nicely. What I also liked is the kind of energy that is shown in the opening scene displaying Soho as the place to be. It's a good film depending on your kind of taste.
Rating:
Summary: I absolutely love it!
Review: I just can't understand the poor reviews and ratings for this movie but I guess its box office performance is this most accurate rating of all. I love this movie for its 80's attempt at portraying 50's West London. As I am originally from West London I found this a great nostalgia trip. The two leading characters are not very well played but Patsy Kemsit looks as wonderful as ever. The musical numbers are great - especially the Ray Davies piece and the Selling Out routine. Julian Temples' background in video is obvious throughout the movie and makes for some very original and striking images. Lastly the small parts played by Alan Freeman and Lionel Blair are just wonderful.
Rating:
Summary: Mindblowing classic!
Review: I recently spent weeks trying to dig up a copy of "Absolute Beginners" on VHS. Needless to say, it was out of print, so it's exciting to see it available again. Julien Temple, the director of "A.B" is one of the architects of the rock video. In the early days of MTV, he was "the" director of all the best videos including Duran Duran's "Rio". Needless to say, "A.B" is chock-full of 80's music stars, & the colors & editing are fabulous. There are some sequences in this film that should be required viewing for film students. The opening 10 minutes is the longest uninterrupted, uncut sequence in modern film & it's complexity is staggering. The musical number "Selling Out" will leave you gasping at it's audaciousness. The set-piece "A Quiet House" featuring Ray Davies (the Kinks) could be a music video in it's own right. I could go on and on listing wonderful bits of film-making, clever visual asides, amazing sets but I'd rather you saw the film for itself. Please, give "Absolute Beginners" a viewing & see if you agree this film is a must-see!
Rating:
Summary: Mindblowing classic!
Review: I recently spent weeks trying to dig up a copy of "Absolute Beginners" on VHS. Needless to say, it was out of print, so it's exciting to see it available again. Julien Temple, the director of "A.B" is one of the architects of the rock video. In the early days of MTV, he was "the" director of all the best videos including Duran Duran's "Rio". Needless to say, "A.B" is chock-full of 80's music stars, & the colors & editing are fabulous. There are some sequences in this film that should be required viewing for film students. The opening 10 minutes is the longest uninterrupted, uncut sequence in modern film & it's complexity is staggering. The musical number "Selling Out" will leave you gasping at it's audaciousness. The set-piece "A Quiet House" featuring Ray Davies (the Kinks) could be a music video in it's own right. I could go on and on listing wonderful bits of film-making, clever visual asides, amazing sets but I'd rather you saw the film for itself. Please, give "Absolute Beginners" a viewing & see if you agree this film is a must-see!
Rating:
Summary: 4 stars for the music but 1 for the movie
Review: I've had the soundtrack to this movie for years, the double album no less. It is an absolute masterpiece. The movie is a bit of a let down after finally seeing it. If you think of this movie as a series of interconnecting vignettes it works much better as the plot is very convoluted and meandering.
The final riot seems out of place, but is very effective with our hero caught in the middle of a race riot, running from both the neo-nazis and the angry blacks, having no safe place to go. Jerry Dammer's music during the whole episode is outstanding.
In the end there is some substance with it's strong anti-capitalist message and even more style with the series of music videos, but empty nonetheless.
David Bowie is the class of the field here. Sleek, stylish and somehow menacing.
James Fox is understated and uncaring as the greedy heavy. Everyone else is a step below. Many over-act or just don't have the chops.
There are a number of pretty standard "characters". There's the hip beatnik type with the always-hip sunglasses, the good-natured gay "Oscar Wilde" type with the always-hip sunglasses and the ultra cool black trumpet player (not a sax?) with the always-hip sunglasses. There is also a street urchin type who's lust for money, it turns out, hides a darker side and a good natured, busty, and big boned lesbian pseudo mother type.
All businessmen & women are portrayed as corrupt bungling money-grubbing capitalists, who are intent on turning the hero's poor tenement neighborhood into an ultramodern "white" housing project.
The show business types are fake, toupee wearing liars. Come to think of it, in my limited experience that's not far from the truth.
There's even an old schoolmaster type who seems completely lost (surprise, surprise).
Many of the actors and artists have a problem keeping up with the words during their lip-syncing (though Bowie makes it look effortless). You'd think in a major motion picture there would be more of an effort to make that work.
Of course the real star of the movie is the music and the standouts are Gil Evans, the aforementioned Jerry Dammers and David Bowie. Honorable mentions go to Working Week (Rodrigo Bay doesn't get much airtime but is an exhilarating song) and Style Council reworking their "With Everything to Lose" as "Have You Ever Had It Blue" with added horns and Latin beats (though it seems out of place here). Slim Gaillard's "Selling Out" Clive Langer's "Napoli" Smiley Culture's "So What?" all work wonders with or without the movie.
Rating:
Summary: 4 stars for the music but 1 for the movie
Review: I've had the soundtrack to this movie for years, the double album no less. It is an absolute masterpiece. The movie is a bit of a let down after finally seeing it. If you think of this movie as a series of interconnecting vignettes it works much better as the plot is very convoluted and meandering.
The final riot seems out of place, but is very effective with our hero caught in the middle of a race riot, running from both the neo-nazis and the angry blacks, having no safe place to go. Jerry Dammer's music during the whole episode is outstanding.
In the end there is some substance with it's strong anti-capitalist message and even more style with the series of music videos, but empty nonetheless.
David Bowie is the class of the field here. Sleek, stylish and somehow menacing.
James Fox is understated and uncaring as the greedy heavy. Everyone else is a step below. Many over-act or just don't have the chops.
There are a number of pretty standard "characters". There's the hip beatnik type with the always-hip sunglasses, the good-natured gay "Oscar Wilde" type with the always-hip sunglasses and the ultra cool black trumpet player (not a sax?) with the always-hip sunglasses. There is also a street urchin type who's lust for money, it turns out, hides a darker side and a good natured, busty, and big boned lesbian pseudo mother type.
All businessmen & women are portrayed as corrupt bungling money-grubbing capitalists, who are intent on turning the hero's poor tenement neighborhood into an ultramodern "white" housing project.
The show business types are fake, toupee wearing liars. Come to think of it, in my limited experience that's not far from the truth.
There's even an old schoolmaster type who seems completely lost (surprise, surprise).
Many of the actors and artists have a problem keeping up with the words during their lip-syncing (though Bowie makes it look effortless). You'd think in a major motion picture there would be more of an effort to make that work.
Of course the real star of the movie is the music and the standouts are Gil Evans, the aforementioned Jerry Dammers and David Bowie. Honorable mentions go to Working Week (Rodrigo Bay doesn't get much airtime but is an exhilarating song) and Style Council reworking their "With Everything to Lose" as "Have You Ever Had It Blue" with added horns and Latin beats (though it seems out of place here). Slim Gaillard's "Selling Out" Clive Langer's "Napoli" Smiley Culture's "So What?" all work wonders with or without the movie.
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