DVD : 24 Hour Party People - Single Disc Edition [2002]

Rating: - Rent before you buy
If you want a detailed, telling story of Factory Records, get Shadowplayers. This film is 'a truth based on lies'. It is almost pure myth feeding. The bits of facts thrown in, are literally thrown in, they're not built into the script, they're simply blurted out at a convinient moment. The omition of New Order is simply unforgivable. You cannot tell the story of Factory Records without putting some detail into New Order, without whom Factory would have sunk without a trace very quickly. Other important bands of the era don't even get a mention, but these are understandable, the Smiths and the Stone Roses for example were not on Factory, and this is the story of Factory.

The film is not a boiling pot of laughter, there are moments that will split your sides, but sadly they are just that. Moments.
Steve Coogan plays the part of Tony Wilson almost badly. Most of the time you get the feeling that Alan Patridge has been put at the head of a record label. The speech (to the actors and the offsides to the camera) do not sound like the words of Tony Wilson, from what I've seen of him off TV.
The rest of the cast play their parts well, most of the time they're let down by a bad script.
The worst part of the film is Ian Curtis' suicide. Fans of The League of Gentlemen will find it funny, everyone else will simply look away in sheer embarrassment.

24 Hour Party People is a running jump over the history of Factory Records. An extremely brief overview that lacks any decent detail, but one that provides some entertainment along the way.

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Rating: - A shocking but often inspiring story
This tells the story of Factory records, the record label started in the late 1970's by the enterprising Tony Wilson, whose death has recently reverberated through the music business. In this film, Tony is played by Steve Coogan, who manages to capture some of Wilson's Cambridge arrogance, yet also much of his childlike enthusiasm for music and less than perfect money-management skills.

Wanting to put Manchester on the musical map seemed to be Tony Wilson's main motivation right from the off, and shortly after the formation of factory records, signing various bands. Some of them aren't so well recognised today, such as 'A Certain Ratio', but some of them, such as 'Joy Division', went on to become one of the most influential bands of the post-punk era. A lot of this was down to the eccentric producer Martin Hannett, who worked in such a fearlessly authentic way that Joy Division's debut 'Unknown Pleasures', went on to become one of the most unique, distinctive and authentic records of all time. Which is just as well considering how difficult to please Hannett was - even going so far as to make Joy Division drummer Stephen Morris do his drumming on the roof.

The premise of Factory Records was simple: it was all about art, rather than profits. In this sense, Tony Wilson was a spectacularly inept businessman, but his commitment to music, nurturing new talent, and focusing on artistic output was unwavering.

After the tragic suicide of Ian Curtis in 1980, Wilson's next venture was 'The Hacienda', an ultra-modern nightclub in which Wilson got a whole host of musical acts from all corner of the music business to perform. These included The Smiths, Happy Mondays and various others.

It is at this point in the film that a lot of heavy drug use begins to occur, when Wilson takes the morally bankrupt Happy Mondays under his wing. Despite being warned against this, he is convinced that the Monday's lead singer Shaun Ryder is a genius. The Monday's go on to blow millions of pounds of drugs and a holiday in Barbados, nearly bringing Factory Records to it's knees on several occasions.

This film is superbly directed and skilfully acted. It features a whole host of great Manchester-based actors, all of whom add a certain Mancunian authenticity to the film. All in all, it beautifully explores the trials and tribulations of Tony Wilson, plus the failures and successes of his often naive business ventures, all of which were designed to make Manchester the centre of the music business. For many years, they succeeded.

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Rating: - good!
this is yet another film i crammed into an afternoon when meant to be doing uni work, but i'm glad i did,and i'm normally pleased i have done lol, its a clever film, filmed in a way that takes us back to certain events and then moving us forward at the same time!i love steve coogan in absolutely everything i have seen him in so i knew this would please me like all those others, and i wasn't wrong!

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Rating: - Entertained, but a rent before buy job
I'm suprised this film has been shown so little on TV. And the time I first saw it was actually on 'Film 4', so god know's the last time anyone else aired it!
I guess theirs little need to explain what this film is about. After all, to gaze interest in it means you have some sort of knowledge of 'Factory Records'. However, I understand that their may be people out their who, like me, had originally thought that they were the only people not to have seen this film.
24 Hour Party People attempts to capture the life of, what was, the record label 'Factory Records'. Its important to remember firstly, that this is only a film, and the facts even then are only loosely based unfortunately. What's more, cramming such a long period of time into the space of 2 hour's surely couldn't have been easy.
And so, the film starts at the companies very roots, the very man himself Tony Wilson. With his desire to make it big and to try and be different, he formed what was Factory Records in an attempt to generate a new style of music. Indie (independent) music bands. From here on, we see the rise and fall of 'Joy Division', as poor Ian Curtis died (such a shame for the talented young lad) and the group re-form as 'New Order'. With the new synth sounds and disco-influence Wilson brought from Chicago (though not covered) the club turned to 'the' place to go, as they swapped the dark sounds of bands no-body knew, to the true sound of the eighties.
The film ends rather rushed, unfortunately covering little of the time-span between The Hacienda's rise in house music, to the time it was shut down. Included here is an example of how the film-makers attempted fictional scenes, one in particular where Wilson 'apparently' got up to the DJ booth and told everyone to party on as the club was raided. This was not true - no-body knew the Police were coming that night!
Though the overall transitioning of scenes and stories makes this an easy film to watch, I feel it's been such a missed opportunity to include more, instead of filler scenes in which we see a group of characters talking. We can't know whether these were true or not, which leaves you to thinking why they didn't just base the whole film around fact. Big details that have been left out are things like the story behind the 'FAC #' numbering system (basically, Wilson numbered every Factory records product FAC, then the number). I think Ian Curtis' character has been left quite stale, considering the personality and life he had.
However, it has to be given credit to the sets and attention to detail. FAC 51, The Hacienda, was re-built and looks quite stunning, so much so you wouldn't think it was a mock-up. The original 'Factory' club looks incredibly original too.
It was interesting to see some reviews here from people that didn't even know what 'factory records' was. All I can say is if you don't know what the film is about, why watch it? It has been filmed as a docu-style movie, and therfore a background knowledge of the life Tony Wilson, or The Hacienda etc will help!
With the new film 'Control' out already (and looking excellent, with non-stop raving reviews) I think it'd be very fair to say watch Control instead, for a far more authentic and less-crammed story.
All this being said, 24 Hour Party is quite an entertaining film, but just don't expect a truly authentic account of this great era.

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Rating: - Dissapointing!
Love mr Coogan generally. But this film BORED my little toosh off! to be honest. If you are a genuine music lover and buff - then I'd say for you. But if you want an entertaining film, this is not for you, in my oppinion