an interesting, if narcissistic, examination of identity. Carol Morley - sister of journalist and TV pundit Paul Morley - returns to her teenage stomping ground in Manchester, putting an advert in the local paper for people who remember her. And so we're greeted with a series of talking heads, some famous (Tony Wilson, Vini Reilly) but most unknown. They paint a picture of the years that the documentary maker lost to alcohol and sex. In fact, although she was an artist and in a band, most of the interviewees seem to remember her for her sexual exploits. We never get more than a glimpse of Morley herself but, as the cast of friends and acquaintances talk into the camera, we're forced to become her. It's often intensely personal and uncomfortable, and sometime voyeuristic to the point that you wonder about Morley's motives. But it's nonetheless an interesting glimpse of Manchester at a time when the Hacienda was empty and the Happy Mondays were still practicing in a garage.
9 Reviews
Well worth seeing
polly-299 June 2005
A more realistic precursor to Michael Winterbottom's '24 Hour Party People', this is a compelling, funny, and poignant memoir of Carol Morley's 'lost' years in Manchester in the early 1980's. The story is told through painfully honest interviews with old friends and acquaintances who reveal that the younger Morley was a wild and promiscuous character. Morley herself never appears on screen, a clever device as the viewer is left to piece her story and her character together (although it's also worth watching the DVD as the director's commentary gives Morley a chance to answer back to some of the comments made about her). A beautifully told insight into a fascinating life, time, city and culture.
Alcohol Years From the Outside looking In.
moth >i<23 July 2007
Carol Morley of Manchester, England, with unabashed narcissism filmed people talking about her youth. She was blond, slept around, drank too much, had wild friends and big boobs and might even be charismatic. Fascinating.
Movie has parental guidance warnings but actually it could let teens live the scene vicariously, from the end viewpoint, so they can do something different with their youth. Morley herself didn't have much parental guidance. Her father killed himself and wasn't around to have any input.
She was a wild girl and now teaches film making. She pulled it together.
There are friends from my youth that I would love to watch a multi-angled analysis of so I don't have any complaints about the concept of the film. A drunk girl isn't necessarily the person I want to see in this much depth though.
Movie has parental guidance warnings but actually it could let teens live the scene vicariously, from the end viewpoint, so they can do something different with their youth. Morley herself didn't have much parental guidance. Her father killed himself and wasn't around to have any input.
She was a wild girl and now teaches film making. She pulled it together.
There are friends from my youth that I would love to watch a multi-angled analysis of so I don't have any complaints about the concept of the film. A drunk girl isn't necessarily the person I want to see in this much depth though.
Carol Morley rocks
beejer31124 April 2003
i studied under carol morley for a semester, and she is one of the most interesting people i ever met. her documentary, the alcohol years, is an exceptional documentary. Her style inspired me, as a film student, to switch from fiction and pursue documentary filmmaking. A documentary can be about yourself, and at the same time be interesting and not look like your full of yourself. The Alcohol Years is as funny as it is touching. A definite must-see.
Awful but amazing
mamis6216 April 2006
I saw this film the other night on the Sundance Channel. In the first ten minutes I said to myself, "this could be interesting". In the next ten I said, "OK, you had a lot of sex as a teenager. I get it. Time to move the film forward, give it some direction, tell a story." In the next ten I said, "Wow, she really isn't going to talk about anything else, is she?" And I spent the remainder of the film wondering how a grown woman could have so little self awareness that she sincerely believes that everything she's ever done in her life is so fascinating that it deserves to be memorialized on film.
The film is a series of interviews which go as follows:
Man 1: You were very promiscuous, Carol. Woman 1: You had a lot of sex. Man 2: Everybody wanted to have sex with you. Woman 2: You were incredibly beautiful.
And that's it. For forty-five minutes. No introspection, no deeper meaning, no plot, no humor, no characterization of anyone or anything except the filmmaker. She sincerely believes that a series of interviews with old friends telling her how much sex she had in the early 80s is, all by itself, an interesting subject for a film. Amazing.
The film is a series of interviews which go as follows:
Man 1: You were very promiscuous, Carol. Woman 1: You had a lot of sex. Man 2: Everybody wanted to have sex with you. Woman 2: You were incredibly beautiful.
And that's it. For forty-five minutes. No introspection, no deeper meaning, no plot, no humor, no characterization of anyone or anything except the filmmaker. She sincerely believes that a series of interviews with old friends telling her how much sex she had in the early 80s is, all by itself, an interesting subject for a film. Amazing.
the alcohol years
a-foulcher4 November 2006
Warning: Spoilers
"Some of these comments really display a lack of intellectual understanding, sadly enough." Totally agree. Morley draws ATTENTION to the narcissism of autobiography, and its specific relevance given the nature of who she was at that particular time in her life. I think some of the most interesting aspects of this film are when the interviewees reflexively draw attention to these issues, for example when one of them says (roughly) "i don't know why you'd think people would want to watch this, there are more important things to make documentaries about." and basically says how self indulgent she is. It is an incredibly witty and honest documentary. One of the best ways she forms this picture of herself is by letting everyone else talk and not including herself in the doco.
Self-indulgent maybe but I don't think that's the point - it makes for a good story, is an interesting take on the documentary form, and is honest and important to herself. Autobiography is a way of dealing with your own stories - and why is it so bad to openly do that? People get hung up on thinking that if you write about yourself or make films about yourself than you are entirely egotistical - but if you have a story to tell who can tell it better than yourself? I'm digressing... I guess I was really disappointed to see how many people clearly didn't GET this documentary. I found it very inspiring in many ways, but particularly in terms of its honesty and its manipulation of the documentary form.
Self-indulgent maybe but I don't think that's the point - it makes for a good story, is an interesting take on the documentary form, and is honest and important to herself. Autobiography is a way of dealing with your own stories - and why is it so bad to openly do that? People get hung up on thinking that if you write about yourself or make films about yourself than you are entirely egotistical - but if you have a story to tell who can tell it better than yourself? I'm digressing... I guess I was really disappointed to see how many people clearly didn't GET this documentary. I found it very inspiring in many ways, but particularly in terms of its honesty and its manipulation of the documentary form.
Total narcissism....
GurnBlenston23 May 2005
This is, without a doubt, the most egotistical film I have ever seen. Carol Morley takes a camera and interviews a bunch of people who knew her when she was of her head all the time. Some of these people are famous, presumably roped in to give this thing a selling point. They all comment on how messed up she was , then we see some POV footage while someone drones on the voice-over. None of this is the least bit interesting, unless you are Carol Morley or one of her mates, and then only maybe.
It's kind of like a home video of your aunties wedding but infinitely more depressing and boring.
Several years later it ends, and we know precisely eff all about the subject. But then again why should we care? Who the bleedin Christ is Carol Morley anyway, why would she assume that people would be interested in her?
Just like sitting next to a total drunk on the bus home as he tells you his life story and how it all went wrong...
It's kind of like a home video of your aunties wedding but infinitely more depressing and boring.
Several years later it ends, and we know precisely eff all about the subject. But then again why should we care? Who the bleedin Christ is Carol Morley anyway, why would she assume that people would be interested in her?
Just like sitting next to a total drunk on the bus home as he tells you his life story and how it all went wrong...
Why are we being asked to watch this? I don't know since its an hour you will never get back
dbborroughs3 August 2006
This is the story of Carol Morley's wild and wanton years back in the 1980's. The film is a series of talking heads of the people Carol slept and partied with back on the 1980's while she was in a band inter-cut with old film footage and new film footage. Carol doesn't appear on film and the film is structured as if the interviewees are talking to Carol and the inter-cut footage is memory.
I think.
Then again I really don't care. There is only so much that I can hear about some one's sex life over and over again before I stop caring. Usually about two minutes, this is 50 odd minutes more than that. Actually to be honest the problem is not that I don't want to hear about her sex life, I would, if it was interesting, but its not, its the same basic tale repeated over and over again. There is talk about Carol's partying but mostly people seem to focus on the sex, or so it seemed to me.
I watched this hoping that I would find something to latch onto, but I couldn't. I don't know why this would interest anyone other that the director who may or may not have made this in an effort to remember how many people she actually slept with. I have no idea what sort of hubris would make someone think that anyone other than those involved with her would want to see this film.
2 out of 10 for the five minutes that the film is interesting.
I think.
Then again I really don't care. There is only so much that I can hear about some one's sex life over and over again before I stop caring. Usually about two minutes, this is 50 odd minutes more than that. Actually to be honest the problem is not that I don't want to hear about her sex life, I would, if it was interesting, but its not, its the same basic tale repeated over and over again. There is talk about Carol's partying but mostly people seem to focus on the sex, or so it seemed to me.
I watched this hoping that I would find something to latch onto, but I couldn't. I don't know why this would interest anyone other that the director who may or may not have made this in an effort to remember how many people she actually slept with. I have no idea what sort of hubris would make someone think that anyone other than those involved with her would want to see this film.
2 out of 10 for the five minutes that the film is interesting.
How did I get sucked into this film?
sterlingblue200317 August 2006
Warning: Spoilers
###SPOILER FOLLOWS### This woman screwed a lot and drank too much and most likely took too many drugs in the 1980's. ###END###
How did I get sucked into watching this film? This is every "man I used to be so bad" story you can get at an AA meeting in any city in the world. Who funded this?
I understand, you had fun and you used to be a super cool bad girl. Did we need you to tell us this in a film? Could you not have just bored people at any 12-step meeting rather than putting this on film? Yet, I got sucked into watching this on Sundance. I kept trying to guess when you would hit your bottom.
Was it bedding women & men? Was it charging money for sex? Was it a marriage going bad?
How did I get sucked into watching this film? This is every "man I used to be so bad" story you can get at an AA meeting in any city in the world. Who funded this?
I understand, you had fun and you used to be a super cool bad girl. Did we need you to tell us this in a film? Could you not have just bored people at any 12-step meeting rather than putting this on film? Yet, I got sucked into watching this on Sundance. I kept trying to guess when you would hit your bottom.
Was it bedding women & men? Was it charging money for sex? Was it a marriage going bad?
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