Much has been written about the Sex Pistols for more than 40 years, and his album ‘Nevermind the Bollocks’ continues to play in bars, advertising and series like ‘The Boys’, but rarely has its history been explored from within, without assessing both its social impact in England at the end of the 70s (and in the world) and the true personality of its protagonists, and it has had to come Danny Boyle to take a look under another filter in ‘Pistol’, which premieres on September 7 on Disney +
The director of ‘Trainspotting’ recovers that vis of an urban narrator of damaged and misguided youths without the intention of demystifying the band but to find out who they were and why they became what they were, alternating the analysis of the social and economic context that served as a breeding ground for the entire British punk movement like the biographical stories and legendary stories that circulate around his ephemeral musical career, rewriting some of them, giving oxygen and reality to most of them, without ceasing to be fascinating.
The canon story so far, more adjusted and complete, is the magnificent documentary ‘The filth and the fury (The Filth and the Fury, 2000) that reflects as only Julien Temple could do it the impact of the band’s music and its aggressive image, its anecdotes and the fiery trail they left behind, but seen in perspective, it does not offer too much background on the way the group was born, silencing a lot the role of a pivotal piece as Steve Jones, songwriter and original founder from the band.
Anarchy in the UK and afternoon tea at mum’s
In fact it’s his book’lonely boy‘ (PlanetadeLibros, 2017) which serves as the basis for creating the plot line of the miniseries, leaving the figure of Johnny Rotten as a stranger to the group that arrives to raise it to another level. Much has been said about the non-participation of John Lydon in the creation of the script, but the truth is that both his books and his story have always reflected a very particular, colorful and distorted way of seeing the history of the band. It probably would have been impossible to pull it off with her collaboration, given her eternal troll nature.
Nevertheless, Lydon he is not drawn as someone arrogant and stupid, far from it, but he is drawn as the star character (note the episode in which the gestation of ‘Bodies’ is narrated), whose strong personality is the source of the implicit humor in many of anecdotes of the band, but whose commitment to his speech is so pure that he often rises as the hero he never appeared to be in the band, one reality perfectly sums up the essence of the series: drawing a group of misguided kids who were still teenagers, as well-intentioned, innocent and good-hearted as any other English boy of his day. And we refer to the performance that closes the series.
This does not prevent the miserable substrate in which each of them grew from being shown without making up. Especially sad is the story of Jones, a victim of abuse and a broken family who carries the stigma of class without being fully aware of it, although it is not as representative as that of Sid Vicius, presented from the beginning as a hopeless case, so it is not necessary to explain too much that his mother used him as a camel to sell drugs as a child and gave him heroin on one of his birthdays . His ending is well known, but Boyle is preparing it in a very organic way parallel to the end of the band.
An amazing and functional retro aesthetic
Not only is the entire cast perfect in their recreations of the band, but the almost documentary style in which they are represented makes ‘Pistol’ a miracle. Its mise-en-scène perfectly mimics the grain and look of the band’s videos, with spectacular mimesis in some of their best-known performances, so that it somehow feels like a true look, always supported by honesty. that unfolds the original story of Jones, who does not keep rough moments about himself to draw himself as the hero of the story, sometimes quite the opposite.
The relationship with Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood, the whimsical intention of performance and the Mephistophelian pact with the controversial manager are a perfect complement to the story of the other great musical biopic of the year, ‘Elvis’, despite the fact that the intention here is diametrically opposed . Boyle does not embellish or magnify what happened, but uses very well the aesthetics associated with punk to explain where it comes fromgo down to the bottom of the sewer and perfectly understand the generational blow born of filth and fury.
‘Pistol’ is like watching a train derail in flames while they create one of the purest and most permanent cultural expressions in the history of the 20th century, understanding perfectly during its 5 chapters why it is something unrepeatable and bringing back to form a Danny Boyle underestimated in recent years, which offers a perfect prelude to ‘24 hours Party People’ (2002) at the same time as signing one of the most impeccable, fun and wild series of the year. I wish he would dare later with The Ramones.