Customer Reviews

Absolute Beginners [VHS]

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"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 narration

I 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.

When you watch the opening sequence from ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS, the first thought that might come to your mind is that it's shot a lot like Janet Jackson's "When I Think of You" video. There is a reason for that -- they were both directed by Julien Temple. His background as one of the top music video directors comes to good use here. All of the musical sequences are superbly staged and choreographed. As an added benefit, you get a rare chance to see both Sade and R&B pioneer Slim Gaillard perform in a motion picture. Sade is absolutely stunning as she sings "Killer Blow," a song which she also co-wrote. The soundtrack is filled with other great songs including Slim Gaillard's "Selling Out," "Having it All" (performed by Patsy Kensit), "That's Motivation" and the title cut. The latter two songs were performed by David Bowie. In terms of plot, the makers of the film took a big chance by going beyond the basic boy-meets-girl story found in most classic musicals. The romance is still there, but it also attempts to deal with some serious social issues, including the gentrification of a community. For the most part the film succeeds in its somewhat lofty ambitions. Overall, the cast gives credible, if somewhat broad performances, but this is to be expected within the musical genre. An initial hurdle for American audiences will be to decipher the thick British accents. However, with the second viewing that shouldn't be a problem, particularly given the fact that this release comes closed captioned. Thank God for closed captioning! I previously purchased the earlier, non-captioned version, but because the film has been so popular with my friends, I had no choice, but to buy a second copy. You know how it is when you loan things, sometimes it takes a l-o-n-g time to get things back -- especially with a movie as entertaining as this one. Rather than keep waiting, I simply purchased another copy (now with closed captioning) and I'm so glad I did. If you're looking for a musical with something on it's mind, you need to look no further. You will also be hard pressed to find a musical as visually stunning as this one with great music to match. This all for just a bit more than the price of a movie ticket. In short, ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS is an absolute must see.

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!

I've owned my VHS copy of this movie for many, many years. It is well worn, and I am eagerly awaiting its DVD debut.

Despite what many critics may say, this is an awesome movie/musical. It's kind of like "The Music Man" meets "Quadrophenia" meets "Streets of Fire." Very cool indeed.

Story involves the emergence of Soho in the very early 1960's. The whole Mod scene was just catching on and times were about to get very interesting, as the whole Northern Soul and R&B sound was about to explode. Features an awesome David Bowie, and, as always, the dazzling (despite being somewhat talent-hungry) Patsy Kensit. Add to this, an impeccable soundtrack.

I recall that when it came out, I first got the soundtrack lp just for the Vespa on the front. (Since I collect them, as well as Lambrettas). Then, I flipped the lp over and saw the features. Three words sealed the deal for me: "The Style Council." Paul Weller and Mick Talbot are still among my personal idols.

Get this movie. It's very good and I know you won't regret it. Also get for "Quadrophenia" featuring very young "bell-boy" Sting. It too captures the mod scene very well, and the clashes with greasers and the infamous "Rumble in Brighton" of which Sezter (a la the Stray Cats) sang.

Also, check out "Streets of Fire" and "Something Wild." Particularly the latter has an INCREDIBLE soundtrack.

One of the things I loved about this movie was the set design and costumes, all in spectacular colors. However, the color in this MGM-released DVD wobbles from vivid to washed-out and back to vivid, often during the same scene. Pretty disappointing -- what I might expect from a 2nd-generation VHS copy, but not a DVD.

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.

This is a very visually captivating film based on the fervent and poetic novel by Colin MacInnes. The film creates a surreal world where teenagers frolic in a frenzied London in the late 50's jazz based existence, paralleling outlandishly produced 80s music videos. I love it. Directed by Julien Temple we see corruption of youth by the inevitable commercialization of them by the parasitical establishment in this stylized parable of a generation in evolution. Patsy Kensit is pretty to look and with a name to match as Crepe Suzette.

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.

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.

Julien Temple's colorful and tuneful tribute to England's pre-Beatles rock 'n' roll scene looks a little better as it ages. "Absolute Beginners" opens with promise...an impressive "Touch Of Evil" tracking shot capturing the energy of London's youth culture/nightclub scene on a hot summer night circa 1960. From that point on, however, the director runs into trouble with narrative (a common problem for many MTV wunderkinds who jumped directly from 5-minute videos to the big screen in the 80's). Temple does have a great visual style, and the proceedings tend to perk up during the production numbers, particularly when sultry Sade and hammy David Bowie are onscreen. A number featuring Ray Davies perfectly encapsulates the zeitgeist of all those classic Kinks odes to British middle-class life. The plot may have been inspired by the virtually unknown (but quite ahead of its time) 1960 British classic "Expresso Bongo", which took a cynical look at the manufactured pop star machine. The movie's final third, with a convoluted subplot about a racist real estate developer, doesn't fit the rest of the story and brings everything to a grinding halt with too much noisy, confusing bombast. Still, the eye-catching sets, memorable musical numbers and musician cameos makes this one worth a look.