QuadropheniaWisdom comes with age...it just comes slower for some. (The wisdom part...not the age; that's constant.) Quadrophenia is a coming-of-age story set in 1964 England (predominantly in London), and is about a young "mod" named James "Jim" Cooper (Phil Daniels). Jim spends all of his free time and money living as many of us have in our early days: squandering it. Jim works a job that he hates, as a mail clerk in an advertising office, just to make enough bread to by his favorite little "blues" (read: pills), get tailored suits to suit the mod lifestyle, and ride around on his absurdly ornamented Vespa--all while pining for a pretty girl named Steph (Leslie Ash). But does this life make Jim happy, or is he just too afraid to truly be himself?
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Quadrophenia was adapted by the rock opera album of the same name by The Who. Like "Tommy" before it, it tells a story from beginning to end, which has been adapted pretty faithfully for this film. Yet I believe that this film would be best appreciated by not only diehard fans of The Who, but also those who are already familiar with the source material. Unfortunately, I further believe that this is a shortcoming of Quadrophenia. The movie feels like a flimsy construction built around the liner notes of the album, banking on its music to carry it through. Even the music in it isn't predominantly by The Who; it features a variety of bands from the Fifties and Sixties, although selections like "Love, Reign o'er Me" by The Who stand out from among the crowd. Perhaps it's inevitable that Quadrophenia should be compared to Tommy (the film), which preceded it by almost a decade, and was packed with talented actors and high production values, kinetic directing, and glorious stage design. And, most importantly, a far more consistent musical score almost exclusively by The Who. Quadrophenia thus feels like a step backward. Although I'm sure director Franc Roddam was clearly inspired by French New Wave in making this film--Jim feels like a foul-mouthed, British slang-spewing riff on Antoine Doinel--this does little to infuse Quadrophenia with any charm, unlike Tommy. In fact, I might be inclined to think that this film is deliberately designed to make these wild youth as detestable as possible. (Maybe I'm getting too old.) Jim isn't too bright, sure, but even when he is on the verge of an epiphany, of realizing the error of embracing the mod culture so zealously, he falters constantly. The film is successful in establishing an absurd "gang war" between two youthful ideologies: mods and rockers. It's probably simplest to say that mods look like Beatles wannabes, and rockers like Elvis knockoffs. Both ride around in uniform types of motorcycles, and both are obsessed with their looks to varying degrees. Their only real point of conflict stems from, ridiculously enough, liking slightly different kinds of music. So Quadrophenia is satirizing the folly of youth in holding to something so meaningless with such conviction that it blinds you to common sense. (Why am I suddenly reminded of cable news?)
Coming back to Jim's failed enlightenment, I think that the first missed opportunity comes after he reunites with a childhood friend named Kevin (Ray Winstone), who Phil discovers is a rocker. Kevin joined the military but left when he found that he couldn't really find what he was looking for--a way to express himself as an individual. (Strange then that he chooses to embrace what is fundamentally a uniform lifestyle with the rockers.) He tries to help Jim see the light about not going along with his mod buddies out of complacency. Jim's argument as to why he is a mod is as flimsy and reactionary as can be--that he might as well be "something" because you can't be an individual--and reveals that he is aimless and lacks confidence in himself. Despite their differing allegiances, Jim and Kevin remain friends, talk motorcycles, and so on. But Jim snubs him when his sleazy mod buddies show up, and after some rockers ambush one of them, the mods retaliate and savagely beat Kevin. Jim sees this...and runs away. Jim never confronts his "friends" for this; in fact, when the mods and rockers have a full-blown riot later in the beachside resort town of Brighton, Jim gleefully chants "I am a mod" with the rest, before vandalizing shop windows and clubbing rockers with beach chairs. Jim believes that by being a mod, he can attract Steph, going far out of his way to do so, despite the evidence that she's not really too committed to any one guy. But Jim's hardly a "lonely heart", making out with other girls at a party even after inviting Steph to the same shindig; so how desperate is he, really? Jim's mod crew are a bunch of weasels, so unlikable that it is impossible to pity them, even when the rockers are constantly antagonizing them. You would think that Jim would get wise that he's being used by them to break into pharmacies and pass along the pills he appropriates to Steph and the others, but "the things a young man will do for a comely lady", as they say.
Near the end of Quadrophenia, Jim and the other mods go to Brighton--not for a holiday, but because they are essentially putting in an appearance for their "movement", joining in a military march and flooding the dance halls. This is where Jim meets the charismatic "Ace Face" (Sting), a mod with a penchant for silver suits and a cooler-than-thou attitude. Jim sees him as the culmination of everything that a mod should be, and even when a riot breaks out and they are both tossed into the same paddy wagon, Jim feels accepted when Ace offers him a cigarette from his gold cigarette case. When Ace is charged to pay seventy-five pounds for damages (never mind the copious charges of assault that somehow get ignored), the flip Ace offers to write a check to the magistrate while he's in the box. "Wow, that's cool", Jim evidently thinks by his expression. But reality has a way of creeping in when you least expect it, and what rebels do that seems "cool" in the moment often has lasting repercussions. Jim's unexciting home life never appealed to him...until his antics get him turned out from it. And suddenly, Jim finds that he doesn't have anyone to rely upon...not even Steph, for whom their passionate interlude in the midst of the riot in an alley meant nothing. And despite being kicked out of his house, quitting his job, and finding that "his girl" is now with one of his mod mates, the greatest betrayal seems to be to discover that the iconic Ace is, in fact, a simple bellboy at a posh hotel. Yes, Jim is that shallow to contemplate suicide over this last straw. Perhaps this revelation represents the last gasp of the foolishness of youth fleeing him. Or perhaps he's doomed to repeat this vicious cycle, as the very beginning shot in the movie suggests that it is what follows the ending along the edge of those chalk white cliffs of Dover. (Sadly, this is where inspiration yet again fails to take hold, and Quadrophenia outright plagiarizes its ending, lifted straight from Harold and Maude.) There's a sense that Quadrophenia wants to be an exploration of the perils and pains that come with growing up. Sure, except how much sympathy can you really have for a punk like Jim? As a rhetorical question, you can answer that many ways. Maybe someone like Jim needed a little more parenting, a better value system, or the like, to keep him from the lonely place he finds himself at the end. Or maybe it comes down to the audience. I certainly didn't find any charm in Jim, and seeing him get off lighter than he should for his crimes felt insulting. But maybe we've all done things we regretted in our upbringing that we didn't come to regret until later, when the wisdom of age finally took root. Here's hoping Jim finally saw the light, but I'm not going to hold my breath.
Recommended for: Fans of a coming-of-age story with an absolutely killer soundtrack of Sixties classic rock, satirizing the mob mentality commonly found among disaffected youth and a society that appears to ignore them. Quadrophenia is a strange animal, lacking the vivacity of its predecessor (Tommy), and coming across like the love child of A Hard Day's Night and A Clockwork Orange. Yet like its protagonist, Jim, Quadrophenia is somehow lacking the imagination or intelligence of either, making it a "cuppa" tea not for everyone.
Coming back to Jim's failed enlightenment, I think that the first missed opportunity comes after he reunites with a childhood friend named Kevin (Ray Winstone), who Phil discovers is a rocker. Kevin joined the military but left when he found that he couldn't really find what he was looking for--a way to express himself as an individual. (Strange then that he chooses to embrace what is fundamentally a uniform lifestyle with the rockers.) He tries to help Jim see the light about not going along with his mod buddies out of complacency. Jim's argument as to why he is a mod is as flimsy and reactionary as can be--that he might as well be "something" because you can't be an individual--and reveals that he is aimless and lacks confidence in himself. Despite their differing allegiances, Jim and Kevin remain friends, talk motorcycles, and so on. But Jim snubs him when his sleazy mod buddies show up, and after some rockers ambush one of them, the mods retaliate and savagely beat Kevin. Jim sees this...and runs away. Jim never confronts his "friends" for this; in fact, when the mods and rockers have a full-blown riot later in the beachside resort town of Brighton, Jim gleefully chants "I am a mod" with the rest, before vandalizing shop windows and clubbing rockers with beach chairs. Jim believes that by being a mod, he can attract Steph, going far out of his way to do so, despite the evidence that she's not really too committed to any one guy. But Jim's hardly a "lonely heart", making out with other girls at a party even after inviting Steph to the same shindig; so how desperate is he, really? Jim's mod crew are a bunch of weasels, so unlikable that it is impossible to pity them, even when the rockers are constantly antagonizing them. You would think that Jim would get wise that he's being used by them to break into pharmacies and pass along the pills he appropriates to Steph and the others, but "the things a young man will do for a comely lady", as they say.
Near the end of Quadrophenia, Jim and the other mods go to Brighton--not for a holiday, but because they are essentially putting in an appearance for their "movement", joining in a military march and flooding the dance halls. This is where Jim meets the charismatic "Ace Face" (Sting), a mod with a penchant for silver suits and a cooler-than-thou attitude. Jim sees him as the culmination of everything that a mod should be, and even when a riot breaks out and they are both tossed into the same paddy wagon, Jim feels accepted when Ace offers him a cigarette from his gold cigarette case. When Ace is charged to pay seventy-five pounds for damages (never mind the copious charges of assault that somehow get ignored), the flip Ace offers to write a check to the magistrate while he's in the box. "Wow, that's cool", Jim evidently thinks by his expression. But reality has a way of creeping in when you least expect it, and what rebels do that seems "cool" in the moment often has lasting repercussions. Jim's unexciting home life never appealed to him...until his antics get him turned out from it. And suddenly, Jim finds that he doesn't have anyone to rely upon...not even Steph, for whom their passionate interlude in the midst of the riot in an alley meant nothing. And despite being kicked out of his house, quitting his job, and finding that "his girl" is now with one of his mod mates, the greatest betrayal seems to be to discover that the iconic Ace is, in fact, a simple bellboy at a posh hotel. Yes, Jim is that shallow to contemplate suicide over this last straw. Perhaps this revelation represents the last gasp of the foolishness of youth fleeing him. Or perhaps he's doomed to repeat this vicious cycle, as the very beginning shot in the movie suggests that it is what follows the ending along the edge of those chalk white cliffs of Dover. (Sadly, this is where inspiration yet again fails to take hold, and Quadrophenia outright plagiarizes its ending, lifted straight from Harold and Maude.) There's a sense that Quadrophenia wants to be an exploration of the perils and pains that come with growing up. Sure, except how much sympathy can you really have for a punk like Jim? As a rhetorical question, you can answer that many ways. Maybe someone like Jim needed a little more parenting, a better value system, or the like, to keep him from the lonely place he finds himself at the end. Or maybe it comes down to the audience. I certainly didn't find any charm in Jim, and seeing him get off lighter than he should for his crimes felt insulting. But maybe we've all done things we regretted in our upbringing that we didn't come to regret until later, when the wisdom of age finally took root. Here's hoping Jim finally saw the light, but I'm not going to hold my breath.
Recommended for: Fans of a coming-of-age story with an absolutely killer soundtrack of Sixties classic rock, satirizing the mob mentality commonly found among disaffected youth and a society that appears to ignore them. Quadrophenia is a strange animal, lacking the vivacity of its predecessor (Tommy), and coming across like the love child of A Hard Day's Night and A Clockwork Orange. Yet like its protagonist, Jim, Quadrophenia is somehow lacking the imagination or intelligence of either, making it a "cuppa" tea not for everyone.