ITS ALL GONE PETE TONG

Review by Michelle da Silva

If you’re over forty, you might need to pack your earplugs for this film, but for everyone else, bring your dancing shoes to hit the clubs when the movie’s over. Already a hit in the UK and US, It’s All Gone Pete Tong opens in Vancouver June 10th. This is Canadian director Michael Dowse’s second feature film since Fubar, and he casts British comedian, Paul Kaye, as legendary DJ Frank Wilde.

The movie opens up like an episode of MTV’s Spring Break. Filmed on location in European party capital, Ibiza, the first thirty minutes of the film flashes back and forth between shots of young bodies soaking up UV rays and young bodies gyrating to dance beats.

As the movie progresses, we see that Pete Tong is more than just another “island-party documentary.” The film shifts its focus to Wilde’s drug and alcohol abuse. Through mountains of cocaine and gallons of scotch, Wilde loses his family and record deal. He ultimately sinks into a deep state of depression after he loses his hearing as well. The last half of the film takes the audience through Wilde’s step by step process to relearn how to DJ, this time as a deaf man.

Kaye is able to carry the film along, virtually single-handedly, with his comedic and heartfelt portrayal of Wilde. Batarda also does an amazing job portraying Wilde’s free-spirited deaf girlfriend. Pete Tong has won awards at the Gen Art Film Festival and most recently, the Toronto Film Festival. The film title, based on Cockney slang for “It’s all gone wrong,” is not at all applicable to the film itself, because here, Dowse and his cast have clearly done something right.

For more info on the film:

It's All Gone Pete Tong [Official Site]

June 9th, 2005
Edit: I actually fell for it. For the real story on "Frankie Wilde", see below.

Spinning Tales [CBC review]
Spinal Tap for the Rave Set [Globe and Mail review]