La radio pirata

I saw this film shortly after it's release, and felt quite cheated. It's title and advertising gave me the impression that it would be about the black DJ sound systems and soul scene which was at it's height in England during the late '70s and early '80s. But this only took up a fraction of film time. Instead, I had to sit through a convoluted sub-plot featuring a murder mystery which appeared all of a sudden during the movie, a very gratuitous gay sex scene, and generally bad acting and direction. There were a few moments where the protagonists had brushes with the law, and I thought at last this film was going somewhere and would depict the racism of the justice system accurately. But this was not the case, and these scenes appeared to have been either badly written, or edited. And when one character deceides to carry out his own murder investigation, I found it laughable. I understand that no film can be 100% accurate when depicting an era or events around it, and that it should be entertaining to the viewer. But at least a good attempt should be made to get the basics right. For example, hardly any of the black male actors sported an afro hairstyle or wore flares, which would have been as common as a rainy day in London during 1977. Blacks mixing with Punks? I'm no sure about that. They would have considered a lot of Punks to be similar to the skinheads which carried out a lot of racist attacks at that time. Also another sex scene featuring Sophie Okenedo and Valentine Nonyela, was not handled well at all, and was certainly not as explicit as the previous gay sex scenes which says a lot about it's director. By trying to show that homosexuality in the black british community is opposed more than in the white, I feel is absolute nonsense. Homophobia has no colour preference, and being black, it's director Isaac Julien should know better really.

Firstly, lets get the negatives ironed out and set the record straight.

Yes, the plot gets a bit lost towards the end, yes some of the acting is questionable, yes some of the storyline is a little far fetched. If we judged every film we saw on those merits alone we'd be very shallow people! Thank heavens British Cinema gets away with making films like this, that represent British History, Culture and lifestyle in a non-conformist, sensitive and "path less trodden" view.

Yes it has a gay story line... and to correct another review only ONE of the two central characters is gay. What sets this film apart if we are discussing it within the genre of "Gay films" is that it tackles the delicate issue of men of Afro-Caribbean descent being gay in an interesting and uncompromising way. It doesn't pander to our expectations/stereotypical view of gay men, and utilises the sexuality angle as an integral part of the whole plot. "Jeffery" it aint! Nuff Said!

The whole story is set in the Summer of 1977 - the Queens Silver Jubilee. Chris & Caz run "Soul Patrol" - a pirate radio station that plays Jazz Funk - marginalised at the time by Punk and Reggae. One of their close friend's is murdered in the park, and Chris finds a piece of evidence as to who the killer is.

The film is Directed by Isaac Julien, who was shortlisted for a Turner Prize recently (2002) (A prestigious UK award within the art community) Julien has captured, by use of location (Dalston - East London) Lighting (capturing the hot summer of '77 perfectly) and Music (the soundtrack is a gem - Roy Ayers, Funkadelic, Blackbyrds etc) a mood and feeling that I've felt from no other film.

In some ways "Young Soul Rebels" was ahead of its time, and was badly marketed and has been aired very little since its release in 1991. Its "Celebration & Integration" message is how we now live, as a mixed race/sexuality culture here in the Major towns of the UK today... it seems such a shame to mis-label it "A gay film" when there is clearly more to it than that.

Unfortunately by choosing to set the film in such a specific time it has lost relevance. Added to the utterly clunky script and the dire and wooden acting it makes me wonder if and how the film ever was a success.

The murder angle was a complete mystery to me. Why did it happen? How come the victim didn't recognise the killer? That the murder and its (sort of) solving framed the film seemed totally extraneous. Why didn't Chris also get murdered?

Between this we got a disconnected story of a couple of black lads one of whom was openly gay and seemingly not getting stick for it on his rough council estate.

Lovemaking scenes - both gay and straight ones - were vastly unconvincing especially between Caz and his new punk amour. After this latter all I could think was "Was that all?".

I watched this because of an article in the Guardian detailing the "20 Best LGB Films". A couple of the choices on the list surprised me and I didn't think they deserved to be there. Nor does this dreadful effort either.

I'm afraid that this is a bit all over the place. In attempting to deal with multiple issues simultaneously it ends up doing justice to none of them well. A man is killed while cruising for gay sex in a local park and the subsequent investigation tries to deal with racism, sexism and homophobia amongst both the local community and the police. At times it is a love story - platonic and sexual between friends and lovers but the lines are blurred and the conflict seems largely manufactured. The performances are clunky and the script likewise. Sorry, but too much of a hutch-potch for me to make much sense of.

My review was written in May 1991 after a screening in the International Critics Week section of the Cannes Film Festival.

Too many ingredients are mixed in the stew of Isaac Julien's debut pic "Young Soul Rebels", an intermittently entertaining saga of countercultures in 1977 London.

Picture's London black milieu and murder mystery plotlines recall the classic Janet Green-scripted "Sapphire" over 30 years ago, but Julien keeps digressing from the main story to cover interesting yet tangential topics.

Theme, hammered away between musical or romantic interludes, concerns many forms of intolerance and stereotyping. Blacks and gays are the key protagonists, while ohter subgrps liek punks , soul music fans in Britain, half-castes (a theme echoing "Sapphire") and even Scottish nationalists are given attention.

Chris (Valentine Nonyela) and Caz (Mo Sesay) are two fledgling deejays broadcasting from the pirate radio station WEFUNK a form of black-oriented disco music. Their friend Terry James is murdered by a white man during a homosexual tryst in the park. Chris accidentally obtains an audio tape of the murder from TJ's boombox.

Chris halfheartedly tries to break into the mainstream via Metropolitan radio station, where he meets and romances a beautiful production assistant Tracy (Sophie Okonedo). Caz is revealed to be gay, and splits from his long-time partner to take up with a punk-styled white deejay Billibud (James Durr).

With Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee as a backdrop (and target for frequent satire of the establishment) pic establishes its thriller credentials at the outset but is poorly paced. Director Julien's inclusion of homoserotic love scenes is no longer a cinematic novelty, yet their placement distracts from the main narrative (especially a lengthy bed scene of Caz and Billibud late in the film).

Styling of aggressively androgynous Valentine Nonyela in the central hetrerosexual role misleads rather than adds to the film's relentless attack on stereotypes.

Pic's most successful element is Nina Kellgren's high-contrast lighting that gives it a modern, futuristic look. Nostalgia content is covered by disco-era music ranging from Roy Ayers to War plus dancing to match. After the most obvious murder suspect is identified and in lame duck fashion disposed of, Julien adds a friendly ensemble dance scene for closure that doesn't ring true.

Young cast is attractive and enthusiastic and Frances Barber guests in a droll turn as Chirs' free =psirited white mom. Frequent male crotch (clothed) closeups a la Pasolini and the homosexual mileu should limit as well as define the film's potential audience. Some thick accents (French subtitles at Cannes definitely helped comprehension) are a drawback to Stateside acceptance.