Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché

This was sweet , ish.

This was sweet , ish.

I was only two minutes into this and it was already making me cry.

Less a biopic of a Punk legend and more an exploration of a daughter's loss, co-director Celeste Bell traces her mom's history via live & interview footage, diary entries (voiced by Ruth Negga), and voice-over interviews (with ex-X Ray Spex Paul Dean & Laura Logic, and celebs including Don Letts, Vivian Westwood, Jon Robb, Kathleen Hanna, & Neneh Cherry).

Poly's story is something of a rollercoaster of emotions (her long undiagnosed bipolar disorder is perhaps largely to blame), but Bell's own story comes across as all the more sad for not having really been able to even connect with her mother until it was nearly too late. I will acknowledge that, for me, at least some of this is tied up with the loss of my own parents, but it was a hard watch.

To be honest, it isn't particularly in-depth as a biography but it's effectiveness is in its examination of parent/child dynamics from the adult child's perspective, filtered through the effects of fame, mental illness, and systemic racism & sexism.

I was only two minutes into this and it was already making me cry.

Less a biopic of a Punk legend and more an exploration of a daughter's loss, co-director Celeste Bell traces her mom's history via live & interview footage, diary entries (voiced by Ruth Negga), and voice-over interviews (with ex-X Ray Spex Paul Dean & Laura Logic, and celebs including Don Letts, Vivian Westwood, Jon Robb, Kathleen Hanna, & Neneh Cherry).

Poly's story is something of a rollercoaster of emotions (her long undiagnosed bipolar disorder is perhaps largely to blame), but Bell's own story comes across as all the more sad for not having really been able to even connect with her mother until it was nearly too late. I will acknowledge that, for me, at least some of this is tied up with the loss of my own parents, but it was a hard watch.

To be honest, it isn't particularly in-depth as a biography but it's effectiveness is in its examination of parent/child dynamics from the adult child's perspective, filtered through the effects of fame, mental illness, and systemic racism & sexism.

literally the coolest woman ever!!!

literally the coolest woman ever!!!

Awkwardly constructed doc with surprisingly little insight into its subject. Not clear to me who the audience for this is as it's difficult to imagine anyone who's ever heard of Poly Styrene needing to be told what CBGB's was, and it's equally hard to imagine anyone who doesn't know a good deal about X-Ray Spex and their place in punk history having any interest in a thorough biography of her. I guess maybe Celeste made this to show to her friends like a sort of family scrapbook?

But Poly Styrene is the absolute greatest, so I was happy to spend some time with her regardless.

Awkwardly constructed doc with surprisingly little insight into its subject. Not clear to me who the audience for this is as it's difficult to imagine anyone who's ever heard of Poly Styrene needing to be told what CBGB's was, and it's equally hard to imagine anyone who doesn't know a good deal about X-Ray Spex and their place in punk history having any interest in a thorough biography of her. I guess maybe Celeste made this to show to her friends like a sort of family scrapbook?

But Poly Styrene is the absolute greatest, so I was happy to spend some time with her regardless.