Woodyanders
The mid-1960's, England. Surly middle-class teenage malcontent Jimmy (superbly played with bracing intensity by Phil Daniels) can't get no satisfaction from either at home or at work. Desperate to fit in somewhere, Jimmy falls in with the mod youth subculture only to find himself at loggerheads with his own friends and the rival rocker gang. Director Franc Roddam, who also co-wrote the biting script with Dave Humphries and Martin Stellman, not only offers a flavorsome evocation of the 1960's time period, but also astutely captures a strong sense of adolescent angst, alienation, and disillusionment. Better still, this film acquires extra potency and resonance because of its harshly realistic and unsentimental tone complete with a mixed-up protagonist who's more interesting than sympathetic, a grim central message on how misapplied rebellion can lead to isolation rather than liberation, and a devastating gut punch of a downbeat ending in which Jimmy learns a painful lesson about how self-discovery can't be acquired by simply glomming onto the latest teen trend that's fashionable at the moment. Leslie Ash contributes an appealing turn as the lovely and sassy, yet ultimately unattainable Steph, Sting makes a striking impression as the charismatic Ace Face, and Ray Winstone acquits himself well as the scruffy Kevin. Brian Tufano's stunning cinematography boasts some exciting use of hand-held cameras and offers plenty of breathtaking visuals. Further galvanized by a first-rate rock soundtrack, this is pretty much where it's at.
SnoopyStyle
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.
pyrocitor
If Easy Rider proved the elegiac tombstone for the 1960s American dream, Quadrophenia happily tosses up a v-sign as its British counterpart. It's as rousing and evocative a portrait of youth culture and the stagnation and self-destructive impotence of aimless rebellion as any, with a scrappy sense of "f*ck it" helping keep its angst in check. A cornerstone of '70s British cinema, Quadrophenia may tread (debatably intentionally) familiar ground in its microcosmic coming of age parable in 1960s mods 'n rockers England, but with the guitars, synths, and Daltry blaring and the scooters growling, it's hard not to be swept up in its infectious, furious, and often beautiful listlessness. Although Quadrophenia is adapted from the second rock opera by the almost peerlessly superb the Who, gone are the trippy, surrealist musical trappings of Tommy's big screen debut. Instead, director Franc Roddam skews for gritty period authenticity in conveying the war for 1960s British youth culture, which is strikingly immersive in the uncanny disjuncture between immaculately precise fashion, and the grimy, bloody, and emotionally fraught world the mods and rockers throw down in. We have our uppers: Jimmy grinning infectiously as he trawls around in his beloved scooter, dancing like a maniac on the rafters of a mod club, and the film's centrepiece beach brawl/riot, startlingly believable in its kinetic, infectious, "we are the mods" braying frenzy. We have our downers: Jimmy's burnout downward spiral, being thrown out by a screeching mother and erupting at the prissy boss of his soulless day job, is so flamboyant even one of his mod buds whispers "Is there trouble at home?" like a concerned parent, in one of the film's many viciously funny-sad moments. "Either way," as the band themselves quip, "blood flows," and the music is the film's life-blood here, pounding away with an ace soundtrack by the Kinks and Yardbirds, as well as the incomparable Who. Granted, even in 1979, Quadrophenia's howl of adolescent angst felt like something we'd heard too many times before, amidst the countless radio broadcasts warning of the psychotic epidemic of the "teen-agers" and their flamin' rock music. Still, Roddamn and the Who cough up every ounce of passion in revisiting it, while the inevitable Sting-bellboy twist collapses the entire pipe dream with a hilarious sombre reflexivity. All the while, Roddamn rounds the package with a pinch of haunting iconicity - Jimmy brooding and pacing by the pier at Brighton like a mod Rebel Without a Cause and zooming across the cliffs on his scooter are the definitive ones, but his bug-eyed manic panic, slathered in eyeshadow, on the 5:15 train as the Who's titular track blares is also one for the ages. Familiar as Jimmy's tribulations may be, Quadrophenia pulses with vibrant urgency, lending his journey the all-consuming urgency that only a teenager's crisis can conjure. Apart from the ongoing game of 'spot the future star' in the cast of wholly convincing British supporting players (hi Ray Winstone and Timothy Spall!), Phil Daniels gives a blistering, harshly believable performance as Jimmy, embodying the overstimulating torments of adolescent life with enough of a frantic, scrappy magnetism to remain wanly sympathetic even in the midst of one of cinema's most petulant teen burnouts. Leslie Ash is luminously unpredictable as the object of Jimmy's young lust, and Ash is entirely believable as the party girl out for a lark, but unafraid to lash out at those more hypocritical than her. Finally, an on-the-cusp-of-mega-stardom Sting is beyond perfection as the impossibly suave figurehead of the mods, radiating effortless cool, but with the sublimely, sadly funny twist of him sulkily emasculated, subsumed by the system in his menial bellboy job, looming under his scruffy jacketed nonchalance. Jimmy may feign struggling with a four-way split personality, but his film couldn't be more cohesive and in tune. Rough and tumble, gritty, moody, fun, and genuine as they come, all while roaring along with a riotously awesome set of tunes, Quadrophenia is the real deal. And if it has more passion than profundity or innovation to shed on the angst of growing up, seeing 'the real me,' and finding one's way in a barmy world? Well, that's part of the point, my son. So, grab your bellboy hat and mod jacket, and hop on your scooter. Because no matter what generation you are, Quadrophenia is the lament of 'my generation,' and worth experiencing at full-tilt. -9/10
Prismark10
From the creator of Masterchef, here is something Franc Roddam made earlier. A film about being young in the 1960s being part of the Mod subculture and alienation and angst with some good tunes and a lot of future cast members of Eastenders if The Bill had not go to them first. Phil Daniels gives a career defining performance that should had got an Oscar nomination as Jimmy who has a mundane job , boring home life with parents who do not understand him and lives for the weekend clubbing with friends, popping pills and getting into scrapes with his mates.Jimmy and his friends go off to a bank holiday weekend in Brighton, he wants to get close with girlfriend Lesley Ash, in awe to cool dude Sting and gets in a rumble with greasers.However Jimmy gets more disillusioned losing his job, friends and family. Seeing Sting as just an ordinary bell boy sends him to the edge.The film quickly became a cult classic, This Who produced film led to the revival of the late 1970s & early 1980s mod scene. It has some cool tracks, a lot of humour, earthy language and a cast of now familiar actors. In a sense its like a British version of Saturday Night Fever and director Franc Roddam gives this drama a sense of rawness and some vitality when you see the action scenes in Brighton.
