This is the energetically told, but tragic, tale of real life lovers, Sid Vicious (Gary Oldman) and Nancy Spungen (Chloe Webb), as directed by Alex Cox. As you may know, this is Sid Vicious of The Sex Pistols, the band famous for ushering in an era of punk rock while barely knowing how to play their instruments (even though I think they're full of shit and probably knew how, so there). The Sex Pistols also include Johnny Rotten (Andrew Schofield) who grew up to do a morning radio segment that used to piss me off when I was 12, before showing up on JUDGE JUDY, perhaps the most punk rock show ever aired in the history of syndication.
Anyway, if you ever feel like not doing heroin, watch this movie. Because it's about how bad heroin sucks. Sid Vicious goes from rock star on top of the world to dead within the span of what seems like not very much time at all. Here's the thing: when the other Sex Pistols are annoyed that you party too much and want to kick you out of the band, you have a problem.
This is a pretty insightful movie about the dangers of a co-dependent relationship, as Sid first becomes attracted to Nancy after feeling sorry for her being shunned by his peers. She's a drugged out groupie when he meets her, and eventually introduces him to heroin and leads him along his path to addiction. But even without the drug, you get the impression the two would be a volatile combination, as they spend their days and nights fighting, arguing, making up, etc. Even if you haven't ever been in the situation where you're sitting up all night waiting for your next fix, you might be able to identify with two lost souls who only have each other to love and berate as they both decline into the hell that is being trapped alone in a room together.
Or, maybe you won't. Maybe it's just me!
The movie begins with Nancy's death, apparently at the hands of Sid, and flashes back to the beginnings of their relationship, and then catches back up with the beginning at the end, so we know going in that this is going to be a tragedy, even if we don't know anything about the Sex Pistols. Again, even if you've never been an addict or a rock star, you might think, there but for the grace of God go I.
Probably the most interesting thing about the film in retrospect is Oldman's performance. If you're used to him as a respected and established actor, it's fun to go back to this early performance and see him as a young force of nature. If this was a nobody you'd assume this was just how the actor is and the director captured it. But we know this guy grew up to be Gary Oldman, so it's clear this is just an insanely good performance. Speaking of good, the direction is great, and it's a wonder Alex Cox didn't go on to bigger things.
Incidentally, I was surprised to notice that it turns out Courtney Love has based her entire life on this film and has been pretending to be Nancy all this time. Go figure.
No comments:
Post a Comment