[Review] Still Crazy (1998)

cast: Stephen Rea, Billy Connolly, Jimmy Nail, Timothy Spall, Bill Nighy, Julier Aubrey, Bruce Robinson, Hans Matheson

director: Brian Gibson

“History teaches us that men behave wisely once they’ve exhausted all other alternatives. For most rock bands, the pursuit of wisdom’s a low priority compared to fame, fortune and fornication. Such a band was Strange Fruit”

Brian Gibson died in 2004. He was 59 years old. “Still Crazy” is his last movie. A comedy about a 70’s rock band called “Strange Fruit”. They knew fame and threw everything away back in 1977 at the Wisbech Rock Festival and twenty years later old habits and left aside dreams still burn.

We know the lives of the rock-stars, VH-1 brought to us Behind the Music documentaries and if anything holds true in the industry is the fact that in the pursuit of ”fame, fortune and fornication” you get yourself lost. If you happen to survive, the demons haven’t died, they lurk, poke and want to get out for that one last glorious song unleashed in the spotlight. Some take the stage and give everything they’ve got, others stay in the shadows and wait for the audience to feel the same way as they do when that song, those lyrics break into the night sky. If we’re all given those 15 minutes of glory, use them well because only a few can say they had a second chance.

That’s what happened to the Strange Fruit but let’s meet the band. Ray Simms (Bill Nighy) is living a shadow of his glam-rock days, caught in the life of the former celebrity he still thinks he is. He’s into the Eastern vibe, I can be a singer, a poet attitude and can hardly pay his bills. Tony Costello (Stephen Rea) keeps using his fame to get a job and dreams of getting that shoot of putting the band together. Brian Lovell (Bruce Robinson) is presumably dead and Karen (Juliet Aubrey), former PR is still holding a torch for their unsung romance. Beano (Timothy Spall) is trying to escape from the claws of a crazy IRS agent while Les (Jimmy Nail) is unable to shed his hopes of ever singing that one song. Everything is set in place for catching that thunder when Karen and Hughie (Billy Connolly) embark for a series of gigs, hoping to turn the eyes of the fans and media on “Strange Fruit” and finally have what they all missed in their glory days.

It’s crazy, it’s melancholic, it feels old and yet new. It’s what happens every day in the industry. You’ve got the young hot-shoots, the new tunes and style happening but you’ve got those golden oldies concerts. What was good once upon a time can’t die, won’t die and doesn’t deserve to die in a world where lyrics with a meaning have been replaced by onomatopoeia.

“And the flame still burns
It’s there in my soul for that unfinished goal
And the flame still burns
From a glimmer of then
It lights up again in my life”

Brian’s song is the string that binds every member of the band, it’s their Phoenix song. The journey they all go from start to the last moments of the movie is one of keeping the dream alive. How many of us can throw away a steady job and embark on a journey with little to no chances of success? How many of us can bury our dreams? How many of us still dream that dream? How many of us do something about it?

We’re told from childhood that once adulthood settles upon us we have to be wise and make a living for ourselves and for our family. We’re told to compromise, to bury silly, impossible dreams, to have priorities, to be a responsible member of the society. For some it’s a steady road to ruin. Some burn brighter than any flame and are destroyed the moment normality is trusted upon them.

The life of a rock-star is a life of excess as we’ve seen countless times before. “Still crazy” shows that, no one can say they’re sober or sane but an artist is not defined by normality.

“I want my thoughts to be heard
The unspoken words of my wisdom
Today, as the light starts to flow
Tomorrow who knows who will listen
But my life has no language of love
No word from above is appearing
Oh the time, in time there’s a fire that’s stoked
With a reason of hope and believing”

“Still crazy” gives a peak into the what would it be if we’ve been granted a second chance? Would we fuck everything up again or would we seize it and get back into shape and dream the impossible dream?

It’s a tribute movie to the stories of many bands who were given that second shoot. It’s a feel good, British comedy of overcoming your demons and getting back into the grove. The production is blessed with a perfect picked cast, with the new-comer of those days, Hans Matheson being a spot on addition to the funky crew. It has heart, humor and it also gives a little lesson for those who have forgotten to hope.

The flame still burns…It’s there in my soul for that unfinished goal…this song hits a chord close to what ”Those were the days of my life” does and that’s not an easy feat my friends.

Edge and Back: 7.5/10