Movie of the Day – It’s All Gone Pete Tong

First, this is not a documentary in the slightest.  The movie toes the line much like the This Is Spinal Tap movie did.  Second, this is an entertaining comedy with a tragic story.  I am not sure how I really came across this movie since it looked like a documentary and it was primarily about the club music scene, the latter of which I am not terribly interested in.  So I guess curiosity got the best of me and gave the movie a view. I ended up loving every aspect of this movie.  The fake documentary style shooting, the funny talking heads that are stitched into certain points of the movie and finally the classic tragic story line.

The story of It’s All Gone follows the rise of superstar DJ Frankie Wilde, who is the premier darling of the club scene.  He is at the top of his game and could do just about anything he wanted.  Other DJ’s envy his fame and others foresee a tragic downfall for someone so callous with others.  As the movie moves into the second act of the movie, Frankie Wilde starts to have issues with his hearing.  He finds it harder to concentrate and is agitated more and more by his ear problem.  It isn’t until he goes to the doctor’s office that he is given the news that he is slowly losing his hearing.  As a DJ, you need to hear the music in order to be a musician.  He eventually loses all of his hearing and we see him spiral out of control.  After learning to cope with his hearing loss from the help of his deaf coach Penelope, Frankie begins to accept his life as a deaf person, never to be involved with music again.  It isn’t until Frankie enters a music club and observes vibrations stemming from the sound of the Flamenco dancing, that he realizes that he can hear music in a different way.  The last act is his redemption to prove to himself that he can still create music.

The story of the movie isn’t anything to write about, but the classic tragedy formula is still a main staple in film making.  The directors found a great way to balance comedy and tragedy through the use of the other DJ’s commenting on Frankie Wilde’s life.  I loved the acting by Paul Kaye, who is a English comedian and actor primarily on television.  He played the crass Frankie Wilde wonderfully and his utter decent into the bottom of his career seemed a little all to familiar.  The movie itself is worthwhile to watch.  Not necessarily a movie that is gonna make waves with its subject matter, but is very entertaining and solid movie. The visuals of the movie are picturesque with the backdrop of some of the high profile clubs and the music is fantastic as the filmmakers went to great lengths in creating an original soundtrack and giving the movie authentic feel.  The movie is not available for streaming on Netflix, so rent or find a more enterprising way of getting a hold of this movie.