There must be a new adjective to describe the music of Matt Johnson AKA The The because " Eclectic " doesn't do him justice . From the mind bending new wave influenced psychedelia of Burning Blue Soul to the existentialist angst ridden electro pop of Soul Mining to the brooding political pop of Infected and Mind Bomb to the bluesy Dusk , Johnson's music has taken on many styles which is probably the reason why he's not as well known as he deserves to be . But he has built up a small and very dedicated following since the 1980s . So dedicated in fact that one fan bought a ticket for the world premier of TONY where Matt provides the incidental music . Is it a common occurrence of someone solely watching a film due to the incidental music ? Probably not but with MJ's output being very rare over the last few years even a few bars of music would be better than nothing
The film starts with the protagonist walking along the road with the incidental music being a few bars on the piano . With hindsight both the music and the narrative compliment one another because the incidental track resembles Matt's other work . It's very similar to a slow tempo version of This Is The Night with other parts resembling Jelly On The Table . The story itself is very much inspired by the true life case of Dennis Nielson so much so that when someone mentions " drains " you think you know where the story might be heading and where it'll end
Dare I say there wasn't enough music ? Dare I say there wasn't enough narrative ? Yes I shall but this isn't a terrible criticism just that both leave you hungry for more . Gerard Johnson mixes the grotesque and the funny rather well but I do wish he'd made a slightly longer film and padded it out on Tony's day to day life , his failure to get a job for example or his asexuality causing more embarrassment . Certainly Johnson the director gets the best out of Peter Ferdinando as the eponymous Tony who gives an amoral understated performance . My opinion of the rest of the cast will go unmentioned since some of them were sitting directly behind me and gave sycophantic unconvincing guffaws at every blackly comical scene of which there were many
In short TONY is neither the zenith of Matt Johnson the musician or Gerard Johnson the film maker . I hope to hear much of both in the near future
The film starts with the protagonist walking along the road with the incidental music being a few bars on the piano . With hindsight both the music and the narrative compliment one another because the incidental track resembles Matt's other work . It's very similar to a slow tempo version of This Is The Night with other parts resembling Jelly On The Table . The story itself is very much inspired by the true life case of Dennis Nielson so much so that when someone mentions " drains " you think you know where the story might be heading and where it'll end
Dare I say there wasn't enough music ? Dare I say there wasn't enough narrative ? Yes I shall but this isn't a terrible criticism just that both leave you hungry for more . Gerard Johnson mixes the grotesque and the funny rather well but I do wish he'd made a slightly longer film and padded it out on Tony's day to day life , his failure to get a job for example or his asexuality causing more embarrassment . Certainly Johnson the director gets the best out of Peter Ferdinando as the eponymous Tony who gives an amoral understated performance . My opinion of the rest of the cast will go unmentioned since some of them were sitting directly behind me and gave sycophantic unconvincing guffaws at every blackly comical scene of which there were many
In short TONY is neither the zenith of Matt Johnson the musician or Gerard Johnson the film maker . I hope to hear much of both in the near future