Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young: Julien Temple's Absolute Beginners

Julien Temple’s Absolute Beginners sets the tone of what’s to come during the opening credits with colors, black and white photos, and a font that would be at home on the inside and back cover of a record album jacket, specifically one released around the time the movie takes place, 1958. The setting is London and the movie’s title refers to the teenagers, caught in that transitional stage between child and adulthood, thrilled not to be the former and staying as far as possible from becoming the latter. The streets are so alive it’s as if the people sprouted from within them, as everyone is engaged in activity ranging from dancing to flirting to fighting (possibly all at the same time). Our guide through these impetuous streets is Colin (Eddie O’Connell, a dead ringer for a young David Bowie), an up-and-coming photographer who’s barely scraping by (he uses his appliances for a closet and storage space) but is instantly known and desired as soon as walks out the door and when you’re an “absolute beginner,” what could be more important than that?

The movie’s energy is established with a virtuoso tracking shot through the city’s nightlife, a place where anything can happen and most likely will. Our eyes joyously dance around the screen in hopes of getting drunk on as many details as possible as Colin briskly moves from one side of the street and from one hot spot to another. The frame is often filled with contrasting colors as a way to set up what will become of the movie’s key themes, diversity and the beauty and value that comes from it. Temple and cinematographer Oliver Stapleton never give us a chance to catch our breath…the camera is constantly in motion but it’s never dizzying. The filmmakers are passionate about what’s on screen and they want us to savor every bit of it.

Colin’s main squeeze is blonde bombshell Suzette (Patsy Kensit), though we can tell right away from their wardrobes that they’re on vastly different paths. Suzette wears solid colors, suggesting a desire for a professional, established career while Colin prefers stripes and designs, indicating a more free-spirited nature, at least when it comes to thinking about the future. Regardless of your dreams, the end result is to be the next big thing, whether it be in fashion, photography, or singing, and chances are there’s someone ready to capitalize on your youth in any and every way.

Despite wanting to be a respectable presence in fashion, Suzette still fits firmly into the counterculture community of the absolute beginners and, during a fashion show, stirs things up by ripping the conservative lid off of the clothing styles in order to announce that the stuffy adults running the event are seriously out of touch. The movie constantly reminds us what a travesty being an adult is, shown vividly through how badly the old want to be young and through sly visual cues (a neon sign reading “Lots-of-Fun” reflects over a man doing household chores). Suzette becomes engaged to a man who claims to be 37 though he’s clearly pushing sixty. Then there’s the sleazy record producer who keeps getting nose jobs while searching for a new teen idol (he picks a 14-year-old and dresses him in a gold glitter suit). One of the movie’s very best scenes shows Colin’s weary father, played by Ray Davies, crooning about the desire for a “quiet life” as he vacuums while his wife beds younger, sexier men. The sequence is shot using a diorama of their house so we can witness every room at once. It’s stunning and no doubt shows how Temple’s experience shooting music videos prepared him for the complex set pieces he pulls off here.

I mentioned at the start that Eddie O’Connell bears a striking resemblance to David Bowie, so it should come as no surprise that Bowie himself turns up as Vendice Partners, an entrepreneur interested in grooming Colin into a product salesman. He believes, as was a staple of 1950s culture, that selling things (items for the “modern” home) is selling dreams, which is of course the opposite of everything an absolute beginner represents. Vendice’s pitch involves an elaborate song and dance number where he pulls Colin through a series of product ads, in essence seducing his hopeful protégé in the same manner as his customers (“commit horrible sins and get away with it”). As strong willed as Colin may be, the temptation temporarily overpowers him and before long, his suits are solid and he’s turning into the very person he criticized Suzette for becoming. We see the tug-of-war that they both face by giving into the grown-up pursuit of capitalism, a shift that includes the harsh realities about love and the self-abuse it causes once it’s lost.

All this being said, Absolute Beginners is not overly serious in the way it tackles all the themes it juggles. At least not until the jarring final third. And even then, the high energy and wall-to-wall music and dancing are still the primary modes of storytelling. Throughout the movie, there have been glimpses of the “bad” counterculture teens (they are shown using rockabilly while the “good” are complimented by jazz) and the adults who have an agenda for them. Instead of wealth through consumerism, these men are intent on gentrifying the poor, non-white neighborhoods. Colin and his friends live there, as being a true absolute beginner means accepting everyone regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, or social standing. The movie is quite powerful and unapologetic in showing racial tension, especially once a race war erupts during the climax. Even being an ally doesn’t make you safe when an aggressive white population has created an “us” against “them” scenario.

Outside of a handful of British rock tracks (supplied by Bowie and Davies), jazz dominates the soundtrack, the music being accompanied by a series of dynamic performances by Black artists in underground clubs. Temple pays tribute to the roots of the genre and its history of having to express pain through the creation of something joyful, at the same time showcasing how that led to the inclusion of members from the very race responsible for their suffering. This especially holds true as absolute beginners, both Black and white, flee for refuge during the fighting to a jazz club and we witness, even in the midst of so much hate and conflict, people of both races dancing and celebrating life together. La La Land only wishes it could be as fucking cool and subversive as this movie.

Absolute Beginners comes to a close as the street battle ends with pouring rain, literally freeing and cleansing the exhausted protagonists who have done what’s necessary to keep and save what is rightfully theirs. This is a movie both magical and polarizing, not simply for its content but also for how beautifully and effortlessly it pushes the boundaries of cinema and explores the full range of the medium. It’s a work of art on multiple levels, and the fact it was a critical and box office failure upon its release and still has yet to be fully rediscovered is baffling and maddening. Absolute Beginners is why we go to the movies…to be wowed, challenged, exhilarated, to have all of our senses intoxicated. In today’s climate of movies made by committee, I don’t know if there would be a place for it but I am so goddamn grateful it exists. What resonates about it most with me is the reminder that we don’t have to grow old…age is just a state of mind. It’s how we choose to live and love that keeps our spirit alive and young and that is worth celebrating.


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