Review: Oasis: Supersonic (2016)

[David N. Butterworth]

OASIS: SUPERSONIC (2016)
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2016 David N. Butterworth

***1/2 (out of ****)

"You can sail with me in my yellow submarine." --from "Supersonic"
"So I'll start a revolution from my bed." --from "Don't Look Back in
Anger"
"And all the roads we have to walk are winding." --from "Wonderwall"
"Love is a litany. A magical mystery." --from "The Shock of the
Lightning"
"The fool on the hill and I feel fine." --from "D'You Know What I
Mean?"
There are two types of people in this world: those who love Oasis
(disambiguation: an English rock band, 1991-2009) and those who vehemently
dismiss them as Beatles wannabes (not that the band ever claimed
otherwise). Then there are two other types of people: those who love a
band's music--and *only* their music--and those who are obsessed with
everything that band is or does, on stage and off--what brand of cigarettes
and alcohol they prefer, who started the barney on that overnight ferry to
Amsterdam, what the boys ate for dinner, who's shagging whom, et cetera.
Mat Whitecross' bracing documentary "Oasis: Supersonic" caters to both
sets of fans with equal relish, although it never really gets into the
breakup that ended it all (and that's probably just as well; the band
seemed to be splitting up all the time anyway, or hobbling its way back
together). Romantic relationships don't get much of a look-in. The only
influential woman in the story seems to be their lovable mum Peggy, who
raised her three sons singlehandedly after finally shedding the boys'
abusive dad. But the epic sibling rivalry, between guitarist and primary
songwriter Noel Gallagher and his younger brother Liam, the band's sneering
lead vocalist, is there in all its unabashed, unprintable glory.
"Noel has a lot of buttons, Liam has a lot of fingers. It's that
simple," observes a member of the band's management team. Noel's dog and
cat analogy works pretty well too.
There's a powerful connection there, though. Noel could crank out a
song, give it to Liam for the first--and only--time, and Liam would go into
the recording studio and nail the vocal in one. As such, "(What's the
Story) Morning Glory?," their record-breaking follow-up to 1994's
"Definitely Maybe," was recorded in mere days rather than months. Noel
found he could also sing, but only after his volatile sib began wandering
off stage in the middle of gigs, the crystal meth kicking in again.
Various drugs are in plentiful supply in the film, as are the rock-hard
egos and the tantrums and the bust-ups, but so is the marvelous
musicianship and the songs that made them huge. From their debut single,
the titular "Supersonic," written in the time it takes half a dozen blokes
to eat a Chinese meal (about ten minutes), to the sublime "Wonderwall," to
"Don't Look Back in Anger," "Champagne Supernova," "Some Might Say,"
"Cigarettes & Alcohol," "Slide Away," "Live Forever," "Morning Glory,"
"Talk Tonight," and the masterful "The Masterplan"--favorite tunes that'll
stop the clocks dead in their tracks.
In "Oasis: Supersonic," "the biggest band in the world" according to
Noel--whose members also included Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs (rhythm guitar),
bass player Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan, and Tony McCarroll on drums--get to
tell their story in their own words. The film opens and closes at
England's Knebworth Festival, a colossal outdoor venue in the English
countryside which drew 250,000 fans for two back-to-back concerts in 1996
with tickets selling out in minutes. Two and a half years earlier its
young headliners, ambitious, outspoken toughs from Manchester, had gone
from signing on (the dole) to signing with (Creation Records). Supersonic
is a pretty fair description of their subsequent rise to fame.
"Oasis: Supersonic" tells a remarkable story, and it's a blast.
Expressed through a creative barrage of artful framing techniques, fruity
language, and stellar concert footage awash with seething seas of reverent
fans, Whitecross' tribute is visually arresting, phenomenal sounding, funny
*and* informative.
It does exactly what it says on the tin.

--
David N. Butterworth
rec.arts.movies.reviews
butterwo...@gmail.com