The Libertines step out for London documentary premiere reports the NME.
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I was also there last night.Get the Writtler's Feedback.
Firstly let me say that the East End Film Festival are supposed to be a prestigious outfit, but I thought their organisational skills sucked -tickets and programme said 7pm start, but that became 8.20, the aftershow was a joke - inappropriate DJ for Libs fans and VIP's hidden away from us mere mortals who could only gaze from afar and crucially (esp for this film) the sound quality was truly, truly awful. Quite a lot of stuff was inaudible.
As for the evening, well it was nice of Gary to show up and his intro was sweet and good humoured. Shame he didn't do an organised signing for all the obvious fans - quite a lot of whom probably bought the film poster hoping to get it signed. The Film Festival organisers promised at the start of the film an after film Q&A with Roger Sargent - that failed to materialise.
Now the film - well, I'm not convinced what we saw was the finished thing and it hadn't been rushed for the festival. I say that because the opening and closing titles were very amateur and I can't believe were done to a finished standard. I think Sargent had an agenda and shaped the film to fit his worldview of the Libs, but basically it's similar to mine so I don't care. I took a couple of non-Libs friends and their take was - Pete is the most important band member and Carl admits this in the film by saying Pete brought the songwriting to the band and the songwriting is what elevated the band to where they got to. And that Carl now holds all the cards for future Libs work, but is clearly scared of a) ruining their legacy, b) being unable to recapture the magic and c) the mental / spiritual / physical damage that being around Pete does to him.
There was a lovely moment in the film where Pete says that the future of the band is up to Carl, but he hopes he and Carl can be friends - he says this with a very (in my opinion) genuine tear rolling down his cheek.
I think Pete comes out of the film extremely well - he's shown to be a gifted musician and lyricist and a very honest person. Carl comes out a bit worse - a bit needy, a bit in awe of Pete (almost lovesick said my friend perceptively).
I don't Sargent has made the best film possible, but there's some great intimate footage that Libs fans will love to see and some great music of course. It does feel that Carl gave much more of his time, but the film isn't too Carl heavy and Pete may say less, but his words seem to carry much more significance. Such is his gift I suppose - to make few words count. If there were access issues to Pete, then I don't think the film suffers for it - I think Sargent would always have painted this relationship this way, regardless of how much more footage he had.
What was quite sad about the film was the juxstaposition of 'now' Pete with the old photos - his problems so evidently etched into his very being. My friend said 'look at his teeth' - a small, but visible sign of the destructive life he lives.
As to the future? John seems adamant that the reunion draws a line under the band, but Pete and Gary seem to think there might be a future. Carl is not sure for the reasons I've mentioned above.
The film does succeed in showing us the magic that the band could create on stage and the special Jagger/Richards-esque bond of Pete and Carl - some of the Reading footage is jaw dropping. It also reminds us that it's been a while since either man has produced music this special - and you're left very hungry for some new material, either Libs or Pete. Pete doesn't come across as a spent force, but you can't help but think of the music this man is capable of producing and the tragedy that he isn't. For me, Carl's solo effort hasn't filled the gap, I'm afraid, and you do get the impression that they don't socialise anymore and live pretty different lives. The film doesn't blame anyone for this, but it's pretty clear I felt that Sargent and Carl blame the drugs. Carl gets pretty ferocious at one point discussing the effect of heroin on a band or musician.
I'd recommend seeing the film, but it wasn't easy watching for those familiar to the story (or those coming to it new) and will preoccupy your thoughts afterwards - I haven't stopped thinking about it, but hopefully most people will see it in on DVD where the sound is better and some of the shoddy visuals tidied up. The definitive Libs doc is still to be made, but as a document on the reunion this will do very nicely.
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