I think I have new favorite movie of the year.
I wasn’t expecting much walking into this movie. I had heard of Oasis, but I’ll be honest, I don’t know a ton about British rock and roll minus the Beatles. I did know the song Wonderwall before this. I realize that’s like saying that you’ve heard of the Dallas Cowboys since it’s so synonymous with rock and roll culture. The one thing I was expecting was to see a lot of found footage since this is produced by Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Reesas who made Amy (2015).
I was right about one thing: there was a ton of found footage. There was so much found footage that, at some points in the film, I actually forgot that I was watching a movie made in 2016. It comes across so real and genuine that it feels like you’re living in the moment. I was thrilled and enthralled the entire time that I was watching the film.
The film uses the Oasis soundtrack to create energy and keep the film feeling fresh and new. I was captivated by how they were so easily to introduce new parts of the narrative by just using a simple song that they played at the time. Each new chapter in the film feels like it was taken directly from the source. The soundtrack and found footage played a huge role in this. I think they also used their songs to show how popular the music was at the time. There were several parts of the film that I caught myself singing along with it. I hadn’t heard the music ever, but it was subconsciously there.
This movie reminds me of 24 Hour Party People (2002). It has a similar tone and feel. It’s offensive and doesn’t try to hide away from it. It really sets the tone in the beginning where neither Liam nor Noel can go a single sentence without swearing. It didn’t feel disingenuous. It might have had they been on their best behavior. I think they knew who they were and that’s part of the reason that they were so successful. They really broke the mold on what it meant to be someone that people looked up to. They just wanted to have fun. One of my favorite parts was when Noel was saying that they were 21 and didn’t care about being professional. They were so misbehaved and no one wanted to admit it, but that was part of the reason that they were still doing so well.
This film feels like a folk-lore story. I think it adds to the greatness of this film. It starts and finishes with the concert in 1996 in Knebworth. It was a concert that over 300,000 people attended and it was also during the time that there were no cell phones dominating the crowd. It was an impressive scene in the film and the overall feel of it was mesmerizing. I think all of the drug stories and the general clairvoyance of the film added to the feeling of folk-lore. There were so many times during the movie that Liam and Noel admitted that they got super lucky. They mentioned how none of them would’ve contended with being the best at their individual instruments at the time, but when they got together, they were something special.
Overall, I’m kinda upset that this film is only showing for one night on the big screen. I’m having to drag all my friends to see this at this one and only time. I have not been this blown away by a music movie since I’m Not There (2007). It’s slightly vulgar and may offend you, but I think it is well worth the time to see it.
Grade: A+
