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THE FILTH AND THE FURY is one of the grimiest documentaries of all time and not just because of the subject matter, notoriously grimy punk innovators the Sex Pistols. You're also left wanting a bath due to the effectively unsettling use of poor-quality footage, be it blurry, grainy, under-lit, or color-challenged. (I like how the presumably *present*-day material is turned into thirty-year old-looking stock footage.) Director Julian Temple (EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY) takes an equally unconventional narrative route by in- terviewing the living band members in shadow, so neither their faces nor bodies are shown. He also intercuts near-continuously with a wild variety of footage, from Lawrence Oliver performing "Richard III" to assembly instructions for S&M attire! Eh, for those unfamiliar with the band and/or the genre, this one gets more compelling as it goes. Especially after Sid Vicious and his skanky, kinda Courtney Love-lookin' girlfriend Nancy come aboard. (Friends, is she scary-looking or *what*?) And whatever the du- bious quality of the footage-- or dialogue... or live-recorded mu- sic...-- the fidelity of the Pistol's *studio* recordings is su- perb. Rock on. With Steve Jones, Paul Cook, Glen Matlock, Mal- colm McLaren, and Johnny Rotten, who delivers the most profound observation of anyone in the movie: "if you talk like an asshole and look like an asshole, you are an asshole." (Rated "R"/105 min.) Grade: B Copyright 2000 by Michael J. Legeros Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros
Originally posted to triangle.movies
as MOVIE HELL:
Spaceships and Sex Pistols