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Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll |
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Saturday, 06 February 2010 |
Directed by Mat Whitecross
Cinema
Recently, I have observed two greater romances on film that have both captured the essence of truly deeply disturbed British cultural heroes of the past. First Aaron Johnson as an embittered but brilliant John Lennon in ‘Nowhere Boy’ and now the amazing Andy Serkis as the tortured Ian Dury.
It’s a great credit to the fabric of the UK that we took an American Art form of Rock n’ Roll and made it our own, consequently producing people of this calibre. Ian Dury’s tale is told through the eyes of his young son, who witnessed the antics of his off the wall rock daddy with both horror and amusement.
Through flashbacks we see Dury’s adolescence dealing with his polio and the awful abuse handed out to him, in a home, from a cowering teacher (Toby Jones) and his hero worship of his distant dad (Ray Winstone) then the older Ian with his group in dingy clubs (How I recall those) the birth of his son whilst he rehearsed noisily downstairs. The utter despair of both his wife Betty (Olivia Williams) and girlfriend Denise (Naomie Harris) are beautifully captured as they pass on the role of minder to the punk rock poet. With art and design from Blake this is a must see movie and Serkis deserves a BAFTA!
4 stars
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