YOUNG SOUL REBELS
Cert 15
105 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong sex, nudity, racism, language, drug misuse, sexual threat
I have often read the word 'raw' used to describe Isaac Julien's Young Soul Rebels.
Is that another way of describing it as being a bit amateurish?
And can a film be ground-breaking but still have stilted dialogue and jerky editing?
Young Soul Rebels became an iconic film for young black people, especially those from the LGBT community.
But its subject matter deserves greater attention to detail that a bigger budget would have encouraged.
The movie is set in June 1977, the year of the Queen's Silver Jubilee, when most of the UK was enjoying street parties (actually, ours was at a local school because it was raining).
It contrasts the feel-good factor against those disenfranchised from society, notably young black people and gay men.
Its central characters, Chris (Valentine Nonyela) and Caz (Mo Sesay), run a pirate radio station in Dalston, a poor London suburb.
They are soul brothers who are mocked by the local skinheads and are victimised by the police.
The tension is ratcheted up after one of their friends is murdered in a local park known for gay cruising.
Young Soul Rebels is an accurate mirror of 1977 in terms of its music and fashion and the bubbling societal issues - notably, unemployment and police harassment.
Initially, I thought Julien was going for a West Side Story feel because the violence is too choreographed, and the acting is a tad stiff.
But, as it progresses, the film becomes more edgy and needs better direction.
This is especially true after the emergence of a gay punk, played by Jason Durr (who, ironically, went on to play a police officer in Heartbeat).
There is no doubt that the heart of Young Soul Rebels is in the right place, and it stands on a pedestal in the fight against discrimination.
I just wish that its production had been much tighter.
Reasons to watch: Groundbreaking
Reasons to avoid: Stilted scenes
Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 6/10
Did you know? The first pirate soul station was Radio Invicta which launched the careers of Pete Tong and Gilles Peterson.
The final word. Isaac Julien: "Young Soul Rebels is set in 1977 because I was a soul boy at that time and Nadine Marsh-Edwards, the producer, was a soul girl. And we were interested in 1977 as the moment in Black British culture when you witnessed Black style becoming a social force – a kind of resistance through style, if you like." BFI
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