It's All Gone Pete Tong

A mesmerizing, uniquely fantastic film
It's All Gone Pete Tong is really a rather extraordinary motion picture that has all the earmarks of a cult indie sensation. I guess we should cover a couple of things right off the bat, however. Who is Pete Tong, you ask? Well, he's a DJ, and he is in this movie - but only for a few moments. You see, this movie isn't about Pete Tong at all. It is actually about Frankie Wilde, a wildly successful DJ (and I mean DJ as in music-mixing genius and not "and that was the latest hit from so-and-so, and it's 52 degrees here at 5:00 on a busy traffic day" radio voice) who overcame the tragedy of deafness to make a huge and mysterious comeback. These movie fellows do a great job of making this mockumentary appear to be a real-life biopic, but Frankie Wilde and his incredible story are purely fictional. That fact doesn't really change anything, though, as this is still an inspirational film that will surely captivate you.

It's an oddly powerful story built around a less than...

SHAMEFULLY UNDERSEEN FILM
It's All Gone Pete Tong was realeased theatrically in the US starting April 14, 2005, and for some reason it never found much of an audience, though everyone seemed to have heard of it. I suspect that it's because the majority of the people who will most enjoy this film are not generally theater-goers and prefer watching movies at home. That said, however, everyone I know who did see the film in the theater couldn't stop raving about it.

I can't wait to see this film again once it's on DVD. I saw it three times in the theater already and totally loved it - I couldn't stop raving about it to everyone I know and taking people to see it!

And Paul Kaye and Mike Wilmot deserve tons of award recognition for thier performances in this movie, come the season.

I hope this movie willl not continue to be overlooked!!!

Paul Kaye is Pure Genius
Paul Kaye is one of the underappreciated joys of British pop culture. He starred in the critically-acclaimed series 'Two Thousand Acres of Sky', which has finally seen airtime over here in the USA on some PBS stations. In this movie, however, he manages to take the story and character of Frankie Wilde from near-total repugnance and make him into somebody you can't help but root for. The first half of the movie is almost too intense, and may be tough going for some, but will truly prove rewarding if you hang in there. Words like 'triumph' and 'inspiration' have appeared in other reviews, and for good reason. An extra bonus is the brilliance of Mike Wilmot as Frankie Wilde's agent, Max Haggar. Stellar casting, biting commentary, and over-the-top production in the party scenes are all icing on the cake. It's a feelgood movie with unexpected turns and twists, and I hope people appreciate it for the brilliant satire and very human story that it is.

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