Thursday, September 27 | 9PM Quadrophenia Great Britain 1979 d. Franc Roddam with Phil Daniels, Leslie Ash, Sting, Ray Winstone, Toyah Wilcox and John Bindon. Colour. 120 m
“Quadrophenia is the anti-Tommy…ruthless realism subsumes motor scooter spectacle, and the Who’s music is deployed sparingly until the last section of the picture; even then, it seems a discrete, almost Brechtian counterpoint to the action rather than a direct expression of what’s happening on-screen. What Roddam has done is to make it impossible to take anything for granted; in the middle of stifling kitchen-sink reality, you…may feel you are slipping into a fugue state, caught up in a snatch of music, a reverie of escape or revenge.” Howard Hampton
“The movie includes a hilarious turn by the Ace, the prettiest and surliest blond Mod…the Ace is played by Sting, who is lead singer of a widely praised new band, the Police.” Janet Maslin
See Also: The Wall (Parker, 1982), Scum (Clarke, 1979), Billy Liar (Schlesinger, 1964)