The Quadrophenia cast reunite for this claret-soaked mess of dodgy geezers, shady drug deals and noisy guitar riffs
‘Starring the original cast of Quadrophenia” proclaims the publicity for this lightweight romp, and true to its word, it features Leslie Ash, Toyah Willcox, Gary Shail, Trevor Laird, Mark Wingett and scores of heavily accessorised vintage scooters. That’s about where the similarity ends. Rather than the 1970s mod revival, it feels like the work of someone still stuck in the late 90s, when Britpop was all the rage and there was a hot new film-maker on the scene named Guy Ritchie. Yes, we’re in that territory: small-time gangsters, estuary accents, straight-to-camera asides explaining who’s who and what’s what, and tiresome character nicknames flashing up on the screen like Roger the Fix, Ginger Nick and Danny the Face. Someone even refers to blood as “claret”.
Related: The Hatton Garden...
‘Starring the original cast of Quadrophenia” proclaims the publicity for this lightweight romp, and true to its word, it features Leslie Ash, Toyah Willcox, Gary Shail, Trevor Laird, Mark Wingett and scores of heavily accessorised vintage scooters. That’s about where the similarity ends. Rather than the 1970s mod revival, it feels like the work of someone still stuck in the late 90s, when Britpop was all the rage and there was a hot new film-maker on the scene named Guy Ritchie. Yes, we’re in that territory: small-time gangsters, estuary accents, straight-to-camera asides explaining who’s who and what’s what, and tiresome character nicknames flashing up on the screen like Roger the Fix, Ginger Nick and Danny the Face. Someone even refers to blood as “claret”.
Related: The Hatton Garden...
- 7/6/2021
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Franco Rosso's Babylon star Brinsley Forde with Ed Bahlman and Dennis Bovell at Bam: "Let's be honest, a film like that had never been done before. We had The Harder They Come, the films from Jamaica, but nothing from the UK." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
At the Brooklyn Academy of Music before the Us theatrical première of Babylon at BAMcinématek, Brinsley Forde spoke with me about the cast, which includes Trevor Laird, Brian Bovell, Archie Pool, Victor Romero Evans, Stefan Kalipha, Cosmo Laidlaw, Cynthia Powell, T. Bone Wilson, David N. Haynes, Mark Monero, Karl Howman, and Jah Shaka, and the film "presenting a life that the people who were in the movie, extras and all, were totally aware of."
Franco Rosso's powerful feature, with the camerawork of Chris Menges and a score by Dennis Bovell, takes you upfront into a world of survival that remains relevant today. Brinsley brings...
At the Brooklyn Academy of Music before the Us theatrical première of Babylon at BAMcinématek, Brinsley Forde spoke with me about the cast, which includes Trevor Laird, Brian Bovell, Archie Pool, Victor Romero Evans, Stefan Kalipha, Cosmo Laidlaw, Cynthia Powell, T. Bone Wilson, David N. Haynes, Mark Monero, Karl Howman, and Jah Shaka, and the film "presenting a life that the people who were in the movie, extras and all, were totally aware of."
Franco Rosso's powerful feature, with the camerawork of Chris Menges and a score by Dennis Bovell, takes you upfront into a world of survival that remains relevant today. Brinsley brings...
- 3/16/2019
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Frank Rosso's Babylon (1980) is showing February 25 – March 26, 2019 on Mubi in the United Kingdom.Impressions of Franco Rosso’s Babylon (1980) extend past the boundaries of its 95-minute running time. Like the dub remixes its London characters’ lives revolve around, the movie plays with re-establishing identity and our experience of time. A narrative document of young, working class male Jamaican-British Londoners, Babylon doles out atmospheric city scenes of their place in the community: sons, brothers, boyfriends, small-time crooks, laborers, music lovers and producers. Privileging viewers with immersion into an insulated, under-documented immigrant community, the film provides a window into their daily lives. We are thrown into conversations and situations, intimately experiencing their patois their interactions with friends, their constant victimization by a dominantly racist white society, and the massive sound system parties they congregate to. A corrective to the British ignorance and fear of Jamaican immigrants, the film’s emphasis is on...
- 3/13/2019
- MUBI
Music legends Dennis Bovell and Ed Bahlman unite before the preview of Franco Rosso's powerful Babylon with Brinsley Forde at BAMcinématek Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
When I arrived with Ed Bahlman (99 Records) at the Brooklyn Academy of Music for my conversations with Brinsley Forde and Dennis Bovell, two key figures for Franco Rosso's Babylon, co-written with Martin Stellman, produced by Gavrik Losey, and shot by two-time Oscar winner Chris Menges (for Roland Joffé's The Killing Fields and The Mission), Brinsley, Dennis, and Seventy-Seven founder Gabriele Caroti were standing in the lobby. Ed greeted Dennis and they immediately reconnected by sharing memories of The Slits, Viv Albertine's memoir, Chris Blackwell, Adrian Sherwood, Pop Group, Mark Stewart, Public Image Ltd, Bruce Smith, Neneh Cherry, Linton Kwesi Johnson, the Reggae Lounge, and of course, Ari Up and the making of Cut.
Brinsley Forde shines in Franco Rosso's Babylon Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze...
When I arrived with Ed Bahlman (99 Records) at the Brooklyn Academy of Music for my conversations with Brinsley Forde and Dennis Bovell, two key figures for Franco Rosso's Babylon, co-written with Martin Stellman, produced by Gavrik Losey, and shot by two-time Oscar winner Chris Menges (for Roland Joffé's The Killing Fields and The Mission), Brinsley, Dennis, and Seventy-Seven founder Gabriele Caroti were standing in the lobby. Ed greeted Dennis and they immediately reconnected by sharing memories of The Slits, Viv Albertine's memoir, Chris Blackwell, Adrian Sherwood, Pop Group, Mark Stewart, Public Image Ltd, Bruce Smith, Neneh Cherry, Linton Kwesi Johnson, the Reggae Lounge, and of course, Ari Up and the making of Cut.
Brinsley Forde shines in Franco Rosso's Babylon Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze...
- 3/10/2019
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Director Franco Rosso’s “Babylon” was never released in America. It’s a 1980 film with subtitles and no big-name stars that centers on poor black male youths in London living among neighbors who shout, “Go back to your country!” from their bedroom windows on a regular basis. It’s about their daily resistance to hate and navigating a system that is rigged against them.
The characters speak in Jamaican patois, and there is no white savior. In many ways, it is the antithesis of what mainstream audiences in America were interested in watching at that time. But 39 years later, it finally sees the light of day in U.S. theaters.
Releasing “Babylon” today underscores its unfortunate relevance, though it also makes it vulnerable to criticism shaped by modern society and conversation. For instance, the screenplay by Rosso (who died in 2016) and co-writer Martin Stellman deserves acclaim for highlighting the stories...
The characters speak in Jamaican patois, and there is no white savior. In many ways, it is the antithesis of what mainstream audiences in America were interested in watching at that time. But 39 years later, it finally sees the light of day in U.S. theaters.
Releasing “Babylon” today underscores its unfortunate relevance, though it also makes it vulnerable to criticism shaped by modern society and conversation. For instance, the screenplay by Rosso (who died in 2016) and co-writer Martin Stellman deserves acclaim for highlighting the stories...
- 3/5/2019
- by Candice Frederick
- The Wrap
Clint Dyer joins Doctor Who actor Trevor Laird and Shameless star Karen Bryson, to play a family in David Kitchen’s London-set dramatic feature, Family Reunion - Kitchen's directorial debut. Here's a plot breakdown: Family Reunion tells the story of a close-knit London family, who recently lost their mother and Uncle. As Dad (Trevor Laird) and his loving children Karen (Karen Bryson) and Jason (Clint Dyer) return from the funeral, the family home seems to lack the warmth it once had. The sadness is lightened by the joy of the upcoming family celebrations, Jason’s sons 10th birthday, dad’s 60th birthday and a family reunion. As the planning for the milestone birthdays...
- 2/26/2014
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
The Jones Family
Portrayed by: Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Tish), Adjoa Andoh (Francine), Trevor Laird (Clive), Reggie Yates (Leo)
Doctor: Tenth Doctor
Story: 2 stories, “The Lazarus Experiment” (May, 2007) and “The Sound of Drums”/“Last of the Time Lords” (June, 2007), though they also appear in other stories as Martha’s family, rather than as part of the larger adventure of the week
Background: Francine and Clive Jones are the bitterly divorced parents of Martha, Tish, and Leo. Almost nothing is known of their married life or really anything before Martha met the Doctor, other than that Clive has a much younger girlfriend named Annalise. Tish is the head of PR for an experimental scientist who creates a de-aging machine that winds up turning him into a horrific monster, which she helps Martha and the Doctor defeat. Leo has a far more adventure-adjacent life, managing to avoid both the more traumatic events of “The...
Portrayed by: Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Tish), Adjoa Andoh (Francine), Trevor Laird (Clive), Reggie Yates (Leo)
Doctor: Tenth Doctor
Story: 2 stories, “The Lazarus Experiment” (May, 2007) and “The Sound of Drums”/“Last of the Time Lords” (June, 2007), though they also appear in other stories as Martha’s family, rather than as part of the larger adventure of the week
Background: Francine and Clive Jones are the bitterly divorced parents of Martha, Tish, and Leo. Almost nothing is known of their married life or really anything before Martha met the Doctor, other than that Clive has a much younger girlfriend named Annalise. Tish is the head of PR for an experimental scientist who creates a de-aging machine that winds up turning him into a horrific monster, which she helps Martha and the Doctor defeat. Leo has a far more adventure-adjacent life, managing to avoid both the more traumatic events of “The...
- 12/1/2013
- by Kate Kulzick
- SoundOnSight
So it's parte The Seconde of the dreaded Trial Of A Time Lord, and matters are not improving. In fact, the chances of The Doctor getting off scott free with just a slap on the wrist are about as strong as a train timetable running on time in the middle of a snow storm.
The Valeyard's decided to up his game considerably with his most damning evidence yet. In other words, it's Philip Martin's second contribution to the show, which also goes by the name of Mindwarp. The story's a sort of loose sequel to his Vengeance On Varos – not only does it boast the return of slimy Sil, the action takes place on the gurgling one's home planet of Thoros Beta.
So having got back from my local optician with a complementary supply of eye drops, how does Mindwarp fare in the much debated season 23? It's a story...
The Valeyard's decided to up his game considerably with his most damning evidence yet. In other words, it's Philip Martin's second contribution to the show, which also goes by the name of Mindwarp. The story's a sort of loose sequel to his Vengeance On Varos – not only does it boast the return of slimy Sil, the action takes place on the gurgling one's home planet of Thoros Beta.
So having got back from my local optician with a complementary supply of eye drops, how does Mindwarp fare in the much debated season 23? It's a story...
- 2/28/2011
- Shadowlocked
Trailer and clips for Babylon, directed by Franco Rosso (Dread Beat an' Blood), co-written (with Rosso) by Martin Stellman (Quadrophenia; Defence Of The Realm; For Queen And Country), photographed by two-time Oscar winner Chris Menges (The Mission; The Killing Fields) and starring celebrated reggae star and Aswad frontman Brinsley Forde (Here Come The Double Deckers), Karl Howman (Brush Strokes; Mulberry) and Trevor Laird (Doctor Who; Quadrophenia).
The film is available on DVD from Italian distributor Raro Video and UK based Icon Home Entertainment.
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tags: cult film, reggae...
The film is available on DVD from Italian distributor Raro Video and UK based Icon Home Entertainment.
Read More
tags: cult film, reggae...
- 10/5/2008
- by Leigh
- Latemag.com/film
One of the most highly regarded cult British films of the 1980s, Babylon comes to DVD for the first time ever in the UK this October courtesy of Icon Home Entertainment, boasting fully restored and remastered image and audio (personally overseen by Chris Menges) plus Audio Commentaries, Interviews and feature on the restoration.
Directed by Franco Rosso (Dread Beat an' Blood), co-written (with Rosso) by Martin Stellman (Quadrophenia; Defence Of The Realm; For Queen And Country), photographed by two-time Oscar winner Chris Menges (The Mission; The Killing Fields) and starring celebrated reggae star and Aswad frontman Brinsley Forde (Here Come The Double Deckers), Karl Howman (Brush Strokes; Mulberry) and Trevor Laird (Doctor Who; Quadrophenia), Babylon is a raw and incendiary film employing an effective mix of music and social commentary to recount the everyday experiences of a small group of working class black youths living in South London in the early 1980s.
Directed by Franco Rosso (Dread Beat an' Blood), co-written (with Rosso) by Martin Stellman (Quadrophenia; Defence Of The Realm; For Queen And Country), photographed by two-time Oscar winner Chris Menges (The Mission; The Killing Fields) and starring celebrated reggae star and Aswad frontman Brinsley Forde (Here Come The Double Deckers), Karl Howman (Brush Strokes; Mulberry) and Trevor Laird (Doctor Who; Quadrophenia), Babylon is a raw and incendiary film employing an effective mix of music and social commentary to recount the everyday experiences of a small group of working class black youths living in South London in the early 1980s.
- 10/4/2008
- by Leigh
- Latemag.com/film
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