SEX & DRUGS & ROCK & ROLL - mating and medicine + stone and spin

Mat Whitecross’s -’Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll’, with Andy Serkis, Olivia Williams, Naomie Harris, Tom Hughes, Bill Milner & Wesley Nelson was seen at the Odeon, Panton Street, London 25/1/10

At full volume, Ian( Andy) is belting out a punkish number with his band - Kilburn & The High Roads - whilst his wife Betty( Olivia) is upstairs giving birth. He rows with the drummer, sacks him and is graceless enough when Betty tells him he has a son, Baxter. He’s reminded about his own childhood - in flashback - where we see his Dad( Ray Winstone) and the very ill himself( Wesley).

The film opened with Ian alone on stage then come imaginative and instructional credits but now, its 1975, & we’re in a pub for a gig, after which another member of the band Russell( Mackenzie Crook) leaves and, again gracelessly at first, he meets Chaz( Tom) and he takes up with the young and beautiful Denise( Naomie), but he now has the makings of the Blockheads.

Blockheads play “Hit me with your rhythm stick” underwater

’Sex & Drugs & R & R’, 2010, UK, 16mm, 115mins, written by Paul Viragh, was produced by Damian Jones with Christopher Ross as DoP - so this story really starts as the Blockheads form - he has already caught polio, from swimming in a public pool, and we see him in the children’s home, where he isn’t helped by the callous Hargreaves( Toby Jones) and, we see more his home life and his young son Baxter( Bill) who seems lost without Ian’s presence. But Ralph Ineson’s Sulphate Strangler soon lets Baxter enjoy life more.

Thus, there’s not a lot of time for Dury’s music, as we follow his tempestuous life but the most musical sequence is when the Blockheads play “Hit me with your rhythm stick” underwater - its not quite so surreal when connecting to how polio had entered his life. With an alleged budget of around £2million, this affectionate and little gem is being distributed in the UK by Entertainment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBLeVcP_JQg ;(sex&drugs)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6idHmoe5EM&feature=related ; ( hitmewithyourrhythmstick)

http://www.entertainmentfilms.co.uk/node/823/trailer

http://www.odeon.co.uk/fanatic/film_info/s117/Panton_St/m12585/SexDrugsRock__Roll/

simon

www.rudereviews.com

My Gran,( well past her prime in 1978!) & well, still into punk, says she met Ian backstage at the Roundhouse. How so? She said she knew ...“the man on the sax, Davey, so it’s obvious! And, as Davey’s still a player - in the flick as well - that’s it!” She said Ian’s life finished ten years ago in March, a sad day, you’d agree, for punk rockers.