“Fresh, buoyant, likeable . . . a life-giving pulse of energy.”—Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
From the moment Parliament’s P-Funk Wants to Get Funked Up erupts over the opening of Young Soul Rebels, we know were in for a wild ride. The changes keep coming as an interracial sex act in the bushes turns into a murder, setting off a police investigation and waves of controversy in London’s black community.
The year is 1977, and while some people are busy getting ready to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee, others have more important things on their minds. Punks and Teds, National Front and Natty Dreads are fighting in the streets, and the authorities seem more interested in harassing the victim’s friends than in solving the crime.
A riveting look at the forces of race, class and sex that reshaped the U.K. just before the Thatcher years, Isaac Julien’s breakthrough film, which won the 1991 Critics Week Prize at Cannes, is as exciting as ever today and now screened in the new 4K digital restoration. 1991, U.K., 4K DCP, 105 minutes.