The Virginia Film Festival

Year: 2007

Director: Julien Temple
Cinematographer: Ben Cole
Cast: Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Nick Headon, Terry Chimes
Running Time: 123 min.

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British filmmaker Julien Temple’s Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten is a tribute to Joe Strummer, the front man of the Clash from 1977 onward. The film has been embraced by fans and critics since its Sundance premiere, and The Hollywood Reporter called this “a rock documentary that’s as good as it gets.� Temple reveals Strummer not only as a powerful musician, but as a true communicator of our time. Drawing on both a shared punk history (Temple directed, among other things, The Great Rock n’ Roll Swindle) and his close personal friendship with Strummer, Temple explores the history and impact of the Clash using archival clips and a dynamic staging of guests whom he interviews personally. Temple’s “rock doc� reveals Strummer as fully human through an encompassing portrait of his rise to fame.

As on-camera subjects, including Bono, John Cusack, and Johnny Depp, talk about Strummer around bonfires in London, Los Angeles, and New York, Temple relates Strummer’s unusual childhood and development. Temple began documenting Strummer himself in 1976, the Clash’s first year, and he uses several audio interviews with the singer to fill in personal details. Temple’s early rehearsal footage of the band is outstanding, revealing a group of guys who barely knew how to play chords. Temple’s close friendship with Strummer provided him access to the rocker’s personal notebook which contained doodles and writings that are animated to serve as the transitions between scenes in the film.