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The ecstasy of wilko johnson reviews7/3/2023 JT: It’s a wonderful turn of events, and it gave us an unexpected happy ending. So, there’s an arc here…Īnd what an arc, Wilko given the all-clear last year, after undergoing radical surgery in April of last year… Wilko’s an incredible man, and the fact that he gets such good news during the making of the documentary just threw us all too. That focuses the mind, and it’s the real story here. And that he’s been told that he hasn’t got long to live. I don’t think the viewer would have to be aware of Wilko’s history, his musical journey, and all that – it’s about how this particular individual has faced the fact that he’s facing a death sentence. JT: I decided this wasn’t a music documentary – it was about a man facing death. Having worked with Wilko before, did you fear that you might be going over familiar ground here? Feelgood documentary, OIL CITY CONFIDENTIAL, I knew what to expect though.I guess it did take a day or two to just find our feet, but once that happened, we were up and running. There’s an energy and a mischief with Wilko that’s there, always. He’s not that kind of guy, even when facing death. Julien Temple: With someone like Wilko, it’s very easy to get past the dark clouds and avoid the philosophical Brentisms. And behind the beat.Īn emotional time for Wilko when you started shooting your documentary – easy to get past the dark clouds and avoid the philosophical Brentisms…? Just, you know, don’t call him that.Īs his latest offering, THE ECSTASY OF WILKO JOHNSON, comes to the IFI – opening on the 24th, but also launching their Rock’n’Roll Cinema mini-fest on the 21st – Julien Temple takes us behind the curtain. Now, with such titles as THE FILTH AND THE FURY (2000), JOE STRUMMER: THE FUTURE IS UNWRITTEN (2007) and OIL CITY CONFIDENTIAL (2009) to his name, Temple is regarded as one the UK’s finest, eh rockumentarists. The latter was Temple’s Hollywood debut, and its failure at the box-office (despite featuring a young Jim Carrey in one of the lead roles) soon had him back in England, and back in the world of music. Having been fortunate enough to work with The Sex Pistols early on, Julien Temple quickly established himself as a filmmaker with 1980’s THE ROCK’n’ROLL SWINDLE before attempting to go mainstream with 1986’s ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS and 1988’s EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY. Feelgood’s heyday.With his documentary on maverick musician Wilko Johnson about to rock the IFI, director Julien Temple talks to Paul Byrne about getting the beat just right. If more literal-minded viewers would happily trade a few variations on “I’m going to die so are we all” for some prosaic details about Johnson’s life, they can of course turn to Oil City Confidential, the 2009 doc Temple made about Dr. Steve Organ‘s digital cinematography isn’t always a match for the gorgeous vistas we see when Johnson ventures out to the Canvey Island seaside, but on the whole the visuals serve their purpose nicely. Temple piles on relevant film clips from Cocteau, Hamlet, Bunuel and others, and stages some of his interviews while projecting abstract images on Johnson’s face or carefully staging his environment. His calmness (spoiler ahead) is only slightly less impressive once we realize that much of this testimony was recorded after, having outlived his prognosis by many months, Johnson learned that his massive tumor might not be as inoperable as his first doctor thought. (He also converses, a la The Seventh Seal, with Death over a chess game the twist is that he plays the hooded reaper as well as himself.) He’s a remarkably charismatic subject, and his philosophical equanimity about the prospect of dying within 10 months comes across so naturally one wonders if more cancer patients might be able to achieve it. Much more erudite than your average rocker, Johnson studied literature at university and still revels in it, dropping lines from Milton and Chaucer into his conversation with the camera.
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