MUBI

One of my absolute favorites. There’s a big debate regarding the films tendency to be factually wonky. I don’t understand that at all. Do we ask that Herzog be tied down by the facts of his subjects when he’s making non- docs? No. Well this is Cox’s “Cobra Verde” or “Every Man for Himself and God Against All”. Cox uses the idea of Sid and Nancy to explore the themes he’s interested in. Like the role of nihilism and anarchy in political, social and personal life and the point at which those ideas stop becoming useful and turn destructive. And that’s just one theme, there’s also the rise and fall of artistic movements (breakdancing kids at the end, the shift from the UK to the USA) and the study of two people who claim to believe in nothing, yet are ultimately victims of the most antique of all isms: romanticism. Cox didn’t make a doc, he made an abstraction, an impressionistic study in theme, mood and tone. In his willingness to let go of what a traditional bio-pic is supposed to be and embrace his own vision and conclusions he shows himself to be just as much a product of what was vital and necessary about the punk movement in the first place. Punks not in the details. It’s in the attitude.