‘Ecstasy’ is a good description, “euphoria” another–Johnson speaks movingly and with great sincerity, in his uncompromised Essex accent, of the sense of wonder and relief that immediately filled him. Oscars 2023: Best Original Screenplay Predictions 'Juniper' Review: Charlotte Rampling Is a Brazen Lush in Restrained Family Drama New Movies: Release Calendar for February 24, Plus Where to Watch the Latest Films
In its rather standard approach (interviews with Johnson himself in a variety of locations, sometimes contrived into rather strained mini-performance pieces, intercut with on-the-nose footage from old films and elsewhere) Temple’s film is a lot more ordinary than the person whose portrait it paints, because Johnson’s complex but generous reaction to his death sentence is utterly remarkable.
The ecstasy of wilko johnson movie#
And perhaps that’s why Temple is content to refer to Johnson’s musical talent and legacy only in passing in ‘Ecstasy.’ This is a film about a man, not a legend, and indeed it is the man who emerges as bigger than movie as a result. “If it’s going to kill me,” says Wilko Johnson, influential British rock guitarist, and subject of Julien Temple‘s new documentary, “I don’t want it to bore me.” He’s speaking of his shock diagnosis with terminal pancreatic cancer in his mid-60s, after which he was given ten months to live, and enjoyed, in his own words, “the most extraordinary year of my life.” Onetime punk-scene filmmaker Temple (who also directed “ Absolute Beginners” and “ Earth Girls Are Easy” back in the ’80s) has filmed Johnson, onetime punk-scene spiritual godfather, before - in 2009’s “ Oil City Confidential,” his documentary on Johnson’s most well-known band Dr.
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