Unlike football, music translates well to film. From Mamma Mia to Bohemian Rhapsody, from Wild Rose to the remake of A Star Is Born, musicals and music-themed films have been a staple of the box office charts and the awards lists for several years now. Nostalgia makes them a relatively safe bet, and if film-makers can target a specific demographic then even better.
Already this month we’ve had Break The Silence: The Movie (which follows gazillion-selling K-Pop band BTS on tour), Hendrix And The Spook (a drama-documentary about Jimi Hendrix marking the 50th anniversary of his death) and The Quiet One. Directed by Glasgow School of Art graduate Oliver Murray and released yesterday, it offers music fans a deep dive into the archives of the man with the world’s greatest collection of Rolling Stones-related material – the band’s bassist, Bill Wyman.
We’re soon to see Riz Ahmed playing a British-Pakistani rapper in Mogul Mowgli, and he follows that with a role as a punk drummer in the upcoming Sound Of Metal, and currently in cinemas is Rubika Shah’s documentary White Riot. It won’t be breaking any box office records but it does offers film fans of a certain age and predilection a return to the bad/good old days of 1970s punk in a well-timed examination of the Rock Against Racism movement. Mixing archive footage with new interviews, it culminates in the now-legendary gig at Victoria Park in Hackney The Clash, Steel Pulse and X-Ray Spex.
White Riot is out now. Mogul Mowgli has a special screening at GFT on October 10 and is released on October 30.
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