Quadrophenia (1979)

the audience applauded

So much average

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

It's 60's London. Jimmy hates his working class life. He hates living under his parents. He hates his boring job. He parties with his Mod friends. They ride their scooters, take drugs, listen to music, and fight their rival Rockers. Ace Face (Sting) is a respected leader of the Mods.I don't like Jimmy much although he has the right sense of bitter anger of youth. He's self-obsessed, entitled, reckless, and careless emotions. It's a hard character to like but one that fits the time and place. His journey meanders around. The only recognizable face is Sting and I wish the movie has more of him. That would also make the final reveal much more compelling. The music from The Who is a bit before my time and it holds no appeal to me. While much of this may not be to my liking, there is an energy and a sense of youthful urgency with this movie.

Some films need to be watched to witness subtleties in the actors' faces, and other films need to be listened to as the plot unfolds; even now with all the technological wizardry, the dialogue is what carries the motion picture. Sadly Quadrophenia lacks both of these necessities. It gets 2 stars for the soundtrack by The Who. That, and the line about comparing Brixton to Calcutta. The 1960s should have been a good time, because WW2 was over, Europe was at peace, we landed on the Moon, and made huge gains in medicine and science. What we got instead was Kennedy's assassination, the Vietnam War, drug abuse, hippies, mods and rockers, and the sexual revolution. The upshot is Jimmy -- a loser at best, and a lost soul at worst -- seeks to find himself by imitating all the losers around him. He has a job, but doesn't do it, he has a girlfriend for whom he feels nothing, and parents who somehow neglected to raise him properly. It's just awful. Simply awful with no redeeming value. Toxic.

"Quadrophenia" is a movie that is based in part on the album of the same name by The Who. It also was co-written by Pete Townshend and some of the executive producers included the four members of the band. It's set in the early-mid 1960s in England and concerns Jimmy and his group of 'Mod' friends. The Mods were well before my time but apparently they liked to dress stylishly, drive mopeds and tended towards R&B instead of popular rock 'n roll. Also, the Mods in this film are mostly angry, directionless and seem in many ways like precursors to the punks of the 1970s--though with a much greater fashion sense. Plus, I really cannot imagine punks riding around in motor scooters. But, they both seemed to share a love of violence, drugs and anger.As far as the plot goes, the film is much like the Mods--rather directionless. This isn't a complaint and the film deliberately chose to show the lack of structure and anger of the Mods. For the most part, these teens drink, fight, take amphetamines, listen to music and stay up all night. Jimmy seems to be among the angriest and most likely to get himself killed. Later in the film, Jimmy and his blokes head to Brighton for a holiday and mayhem ensues. Exactly what happens, you'll need to see for yourself.As I said above, how much you like the film will depend a lot on you. If you grew up at the same time and place as these hooligans, then perhaps you'll have a feeling of nostalgia watching it. As for me, although the film was well made, it was also unpleasant and I got a bit tired of all the pointlessly angry and disaffected youth. It just wasn't my thing and it's hard to love a film where you cannot stand any of the characters.A few final observations: I don't think it was unintentional that the leading man, Jimmy, sure looked quite a bit like Townshend. The film sure could have used captions. I saw it on HULU and had to really pay attention to get what they were saying due to the accents. There's also a bit of male frontal nudity--though considering all the violence and anger, I doubt if it's a film you'd show your mom or your kids! Also, the music was very nice--the best part of the film, really.

I love this film for its simplicity and its absolutely brilliant soundtrack by the Who. Phil Daniels stands out as the mod who changes from disillusioned to moody and then almost psychotic as he gets the 5.15 to Brighton out of his head on pills. There are some great supporting performances though. Michael Elphick is superb as Jimmy's dad and Mark Wingett as his mate and Leslie Ash as Steph are equally effective. Sting as the hero Ace Face has a great screen presence and Toyah as Monkey is infectious. There are so many great scenes in this film but my favourite is where Jimmy and his dad argue about the Who on TV. Who hasn't had that conversation with their parents. A great advert for British films.