Variety
The late punk rock legend Joe Strummer is rendered fully human in Julien Temple's engrossing and all-encompassing portrait...
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Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten
Director Julien Temple ('The Filth and the Fury') leads us down another intertwined journey of success, failure, and everything in between - the rock ‘n' roll way, of course - in this film about his close friend and lead singer of The Clash, Joe Strummer.
Interspersed with voiceovers cut from his BBC World Service programmes in the 90s, and a series of interviews set around a roaring campfire (a passion of Strummer's post-musical life), friends like Mick Jones, Jim Jarmusch, Steve Buscemi and members of his family reminisce about the man who taught us all to "combat rock". Strummer died of a heart attack in 2002, leaving behind a legacy as one of rock's truly great innovators. [NZFF 2007 synopsis]
Interspersed with voiceovers cut from his BBC World Service programmes in the 90s, and a series of interviews set around a roaring campfire (a passion of Strummer's post-musical life), friends like Mick Jones, Jim Jarmusch, Steve Buscemi and members of his family reminisce about the man who taught us all to "combat rock". Strummer died of a heart attack in 2002, leaving behind a legacy as one of rock's truly great innovators. [NZFF 2007 synopsis]
123 minsIreland, UK
BiographyDocumentaryMusic
- Director:
- Julien Temple ('Glastonbury', 'The Filth and the Fury')
- Cast:
- BonoSteve BuscemiTerry ChimesJohn CusackPeter CushingJohnny DeppMatt DillonJim Jarmusch
Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten / Reviews
New Zealand Herald
It's heartening to see that after his lost years post-Clash, Strummer found his feet again, musically and personally. The earlier episodes of this biography might show he was frequently insufferable to those close to him. But it shows that he was an inspirational figure and that all our hero worship - which turned to grief at his untimely death in 2002 - was fully deserved...
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Lumiere Reader
Will really only appeal to fans of the scene, the style, the sound and the time, but for anyone keen to revisit and re-learn what it was all about then you will find a semi-portrait of one of the most important songwriters to emerge at the end of the 1970s – a time when songwriting seemed secondary to the singing of the tune. A spiritual man, a musical magpie, a quintessential punk who, by virtue of his literal lust for life, transcended the punk subculture...
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Dominion Post
Julien Temple, who also made the brilliant Sex Pistols doco' The Filth and The Fury, here does justice to one of the best blokes to ever walk the planet. This would have been an easy five-star film, if not for the increasingly twattish 'Bono' popping in for his obligatory but pointless cameo...
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Christchurch Press
Really rocks the casbah, and The Clash and rock and punk fans in general should heed the call and go now...
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BBC
Strummer could be selfish, insensitive and manipulative, and those who bore the brunt of it appear here, like his early friends and bandmates who he callously ditched to pursue fame with The Clash. But the man was also very vulnerable, especially when The Clash disbanded. Inspiring and cautionary at the same time, Strummer's story is an absorbing one for Clash fans and also to those new to the man...
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