SHOPLIFTERS OF THE WORLD
****
Director: Stephen Kijak
Screenwriter: Stephen Kijak, story by Lorianne Hall
Principal cast:
Helena Howard
Ellar Coltrane
Elena Kampouris
Nick Krause
James Bloor
Joe Manganiello
Country: USA
Classification: CTC
Runtime: 91 mins.
Australian release date: Sydney Film Festival On Demand from 12 November 2021.
Lovers of The Smiths, the post-punk band whose fans hung on every word of singer Steven Morrissey’s lyrics, will love Shoplifters of the World. Set in Denver in 1987, the movie follows four devastated fans on the night The Smiths broke up. Interestingly, IRL Morrissey went on to make more records than the band did (they only released four studio albums) but many of his earlier fans became disenchanted when they found out that This Charming Man was living up to some of The Smiths’ songs, particularly Bigmouth Strikes Again, when he started agreeing with anti-immigration propaganda espoused by Anne Marie Waters’ far-right party For Britain. But I digress, none of this had happened yet in the events we see depicted in Shoplifters of the World. What we see is a night of youthful exuberance - mixed with a dash of nostalgia - as these young people realise that they’re on the cusp of adulthood and everything in their lives is about to change. It’s a kind of American Graffiti for the 1980s.
The cast of Shoplifters of the World is mainly made up of unknowns but what a talented bunch they are, especially Helena Howard (Cleo) and Elena Kampouris (Sheila). I hope we see more of these actors in the future. Both are terrific. Better known is Joe Manganiello as Full Metal Mickey, who does an excellent job as a DJ forced at gunpoint to play nothing but Smith’s songs on his radio program. When Mickey questions his hostage-taker, Dean (Ellar Coltrane), about his love for The Smiths, Dean tells him a story. He says, before he came across their music, “My life sucked. No one knew me, and yet everyone gave me shit - even the nerds, and the girl I thought I liked. So I found a razor blade. I’ll never forget, though, my first day back at work (picking up The Smiths’ album Hatful of Hollow), we got this new import in. I’d never heard of them before. I just listened to it over and over again, it was like nothing I’d never heard: martyrdom and meaningless death, guilt and heroism, sex and celibacy, catharsis and deceit - all the horrors you have to face up to. I owe them everything. They saved my life.” Which perfectly explains the band’s appeal - their songs were a siren call to every disaffected, uncomfortable-in-their-own-skin, out-of-place adolescent around, whether they lived in Manchester or on the other side of the world in Denver.
Writer/director Kijak is obviously a fan of The Smith’s music himself and he’s made great use of 20 of their songs in his movie. The rights must have cost a fortune. He has also cleverly incorporated archival footage of interviews with Morrissey, guitarist Johnny Marr and the band performing. His filmmaking career to date has focused on music documentaries and he’s made feature-length bios on Scott Walker, the Rolling Stones, Jaco, the Backstreet Boys, Lynyrd Skynyrd and X Japan, so he’s very familiar with the rock’n’roll milieu and the culture surrounding band worship. Shoplifters of the World is a wonderful celebration of the spirit of the 1980s, a time before mobile phones, Facebook and Instagram, when people actually listened to music and allowed it to transport them to a better place… and to make them feel better about themselves. As Dean says in the film, “The Smiths are the only band that matters.” Stephen Kijak, take a bow.
Screenwriter: Stephen Kijak, story by Lorianne Hall
Principal cast:
Helena Howard
Ellar Coltrane
Elena Kampouris
Nick Krause
James Bloor
Joe Manganiello
Country: USA
Classification: CTC
Runtime: 91 mins.
Australian release date: Sydney Film Festival On Demand from 12 November 2021.
Lovers of The Smiths, the post-punk band whose fans hung on every word of singer Steven Morrissey’s lyrics, will love Shoplifters of the World. Set in Denver in 1987, the movie follows four devastated fans on the night The Smiths broke up. Interestingly, IRL Morrissey went on to make more records than the band did (they only released four studio albums) but many of his earlier fans became disenchanted when they found out that This Charming Man was living up to some of The Smiths’ songs, particularly Bigmouth Strikes Again, when he started agreeing with anti-immigration propaganda espoused by Anne Marie Waters’ far-right party For Britain. But I digress, none of this had happened yet in the events we see depicted in Shoplifters of the World. What we see is a night of youthful exuberance - mixed with a dash of nostalgia - as these young people realise that they’re on the cusp of adulthood and everything in their lives is about to change. It’s a kind of American Graffiti for the 1980s.
The cast of Shoplifters of the World is mainly made up of unknowns but what a talented bunch they are, especially Helena Howard (Cleo) and Elena Kampouris (Sheila). I hope we see more of these actors in the future. Both are terrific. Better known is Joe Manganiello as Full Metal Mickey, who does an excellent job as a DJ forced at gunpoint to play nothing but Smith’s songs on his radio program. When Mickey questions his hostage-taker, Dean (Ellar Coltrane), about his love for The Smiths, Dean tells him a story. He says, before he came across their music, “My life sucked. No one knew me, and yet everyone gave me shit - even the nerds, and the girl I thought I liked. So I found a razor blade. I’ll never forget, though, my first day back at work (picking up The Smiths’ album Hatful of Hollow), we got this new import in. I’d never heard of them before. I just listened to it over and over again, it was like nothing I’d never heard: martyrdom and meaningless death, guilt and heroism, sex and celibacy, catharsis and deceit - all the horrors you have to face up to. I owe them everything. They saved my life.” Which perfectly explains the band’s appeal - their songs were a siren call to every disaffected, uncomfortable-in-their-own-skin, out-of-place adolescent around, whether they lived in Manchester or on the other side of the world in Denver.
Writer/director Kijak is obviously a fan of The Smith’s music himself and he’s made great use of 20 of their songs in his movie. The rights must have cost a fortune. He has also cleverly incorporated archival footage of interviews with Morrissey, guitarist Johnny Marr and the band performing. His filmmaking career to date has focused on music documentaries and he’s made feature-length bios on Scott Walker, the Rolling Stones, Jaco, the Backstreet Boys, Lynyrd Skynyrd and X Japan, so he’s very familiar with the rock’n’roll milieu and the culture surrounding band worship. Shoplifters of the World is a wonderful celebration of the spirit of the 1980s, a time before mobile phones, Facebook and Instagram, when people actually listened to music and allowed it to transport them to a better place… and to make them feel better about themselves. As Dean says in the film, “The Smiths are the only band that matters.” Stephen Kijak, take a bow.