Such a frustrating disappointment

A different way of telling a story

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

"They've never been on a building site. Not to say that that's, you know; not to say that the dirt under your fingernails is some sort of badge of honor. It's not. It's just a fact, you know. They never had a paper route, you know. I had a milk route and stuff like that. I've working on building sites. That fundamentally makes my soul a lot more purer than theirs." --- Noel Gallagher on the rivalry with Blur. The best part is that he said it with a straight face.

First off let me say that Theo Robertson makes a crucially key point in his post below. While Britpop was a great period for music in the UK, they sure as hell weren't exporting much of it to the US. Bush, The Spice Girls, Elton John, and Radiohead. That's pretty much it. One of the Elastica songs got some minor air time in '95, and Oasis had some so-so hits with Wonderwall and a couple others...but that's it. As for Blur? Ha. The only Blur song known by the average American is "Song. 2" and that hardly fits into the Britpop mold. Pulp, Suede, Gene, the Manics, Supergrass...forget it. Anglophiles and transplants were the only people in the US celebrating the Britpop phenomenon at the time. I even remember listening to a couple of "face-offs" on 91X (influential modern rock station in San Diego) in the summer of '95. This is where the DJ plays two new songs, and callers vote on which is their favorite. The winning song then goes temporarily into rotation.Anyhow, the two songs I remember being featured were "Common People" by Pulp and "Country House" by Blur. Both songs got obliterated (one by, I believe, a White Zombie song and I can't remember the other). Both actually had listeners calling in and saying how much they hated them and how cheesy and British they sounded.Just for the record, I called in a voted for both. For "Common People" I think the DJ said something like, "Oh, you're the first for that one."The 80's on the other hand, were HUGE for British music. Whether it was Duran Duran or The Cure, the early and mid-80's were easily on par with the British invasion of the 60's as far as records sales and popularity goes. With that said, I was lucky enough to live in London from January '95 through May '95 and if you were IN Britain, well, it was pretty cool. The movie nicely encapsulates the sense of excitement happening in the UK at the time. Every week it seemed like the NME had either Brett Anderson, Damon Albarn or the Gallaghers on the cover (although Richie James of the Manic Street Preachers, who had just gone missing, was probably the second biggest story next to the "Britpop thing"). I personally loved the music...just about all of it...but that's also because I really dig British culture. And that's really what I think Britpop was all about - Brits celebrating being British in their music for the first time (in a mass way, anyway). The guy from Massive Attack makes a good comment early on in the film which was not only insightful, but also tied his band in with the rest. Essentially he said that prior to the Britpop era, most big name British bands adopted a certain Americanized sound...in most cases with their voices and in their lyrics. He hated doing that and, like Jarvis and Damon and Justine and all the others, instead celebrated being British in his music. And that, really, is what makes Britpop "Britpop" - it's British Pop music. It's by, about, and for Brits. Americans didn't get it. Then again, it wasn't for them.

This insight into britpop is not really as insightful as it fancies itself as being.I'm not saying that this film is without its good points. It explores the politics behind the era (interesting in itself) and to a lesser extent, the youth culture. The main problem I have with this film is I was expecting so much more! It really only explores Oasis, Blur, Pulp, Sleeper and Massive Attack (who is a great artist nonetheless, is not britpop). Where is Kula Shaker, Manic Street Preachers, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Catatonia etc. They didn't even explore Placebo, The Verve or even Radiohead.It is not an impossible task. Look at the way Hype! explored Seattle grunge/indie rock. It is pretty much definitive. Live Forever is not.Check out films like Hype!, 24 Hour Party People or The Filth and the Fury for brilliant looks at alternative music. Live Forever just doesn't compare.

Come on, cut this film some slack!I watched this at the Stockholm Film Festival and the audiencewere clearly warmly amused.It's an entertaining, brief documenarty about those at the forefrontof Britpop, and that's it.My main reservation is that I would have liked to have seen a lotmore of the music - for example, we get about a 5 second cut ofSleeper, the same for Oasis' first national tv performance (whichwould have been interesting and probably almost impossible totrack down). In that sense it is akin to if someone made adocumentary about the 1966 World Cup but only showed the goalsfrom the Final.