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''It's All Gone Pete Tong'' is a 2004 British-Canadian
mockumentary A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on ...
-
drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...
film about a DJ ( Paul Kaye) who goes completely
deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...
. The title uses a
rhyming slang Rhyming slang is a form of slang word construction in the English language. It is especially prevalent among Cockneys in England, and was first used in the early 19th century in the East End of London; hence its alternative name, Cockney rhymi ...
phrase used in Britain from the 1980s (Pete Tong = "wrong"), referring to the BBC Radio 1 DJ
Pete Tong Peter Michael Tong, (born 30 July 1960) is an English disc jockey who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as '' Essential Mix'' and '' Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio s ...
. It won two awards at the US Comedy Arts Festival for Best Feature and Best Actor (Kaye) and swept the
Gen Art Film Festival Gen Art is an arts and entertainment organization that showcases emerging fashion designers, filmmakers, musicians and visual artists. It has produced over 100 events annually, which included fashion shows, film premieres and screenings, live mus ...
awards (Grand Jury and Audience). It was filmed on location in Ibiza and shot entirely in HD. Ibiza locations used in the movie include the music venues Pacha,
Amnesia Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or disease,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be caused temporarily by the use ...
,
Privilege Privilege may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Privilege'' (film), a 1967 film directed by Peter Watkins * ''Privilege'' (Ivor Cutler album), 1983 * ''Privilege'' (Television Personalities album), 1990 * ''Privilege (Abridged)'', an alb ...
,
DC10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long-range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 1971, ...
and the historic Pike's Hotel and Cala Llonga beach.


Plot

Frankie Wilde is a British music producer and a DJ based in Ibiza. After years of playing in night-clubs he loses his hearing, first apparent when he hears a high-pitched whine instead of an
Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
football match on TV. At this time, Frankie is making his next album with his "two Austrian mates" Alfonse and Horst, but his hearing degrades rapidly and progress stagnates. Frankie refuses to acknowledge his problem until a gig in Amnesia, when he cannot hear the second channel in his headphones and must crossfade one song into the next without being able to beatmatch them. When the crowd boos him, he throws the turntable and the mixer onto the dance floor, and is forcibly removed from the club. Frankie agrees to see a doctor, who tells him he has lost hearing in one ear and has 20% left in the other. He warns Frankie that unless he stops abusing drugs and listening to loud noises, he will soon be completely deaf, and even the use of his hearing aid would only further degrade his hearing. During a recording session, Frankie confesses the full nature of his hearing loss to Alfonse. He inserts his hearing aid to demonstrate and, overwhelmed by the sudden sound exposure, leans close to one of the monitor speakers. Before he can react, a frustrated Horst smashes a guitar into an amplifier whose volume Frankie has maximized. The noise is excruciating and the feedback bursts his eardrum, knocking Frankie unconscious. The damage leaves him permanently deaf. Without his hearing, Frankie cannot complete his album. He loses his recording contract and his manager Max abandons him. Soon after, his wife Sonya leaves him. Frankie shuts himself into his home, which he has "soundproofed" with pillows in a desperate bid to recover his hearing, and his drug use intensifies. He sinks into a heavy depression, repeatedly throwing his body against the walls, and wrapping Roman candles around his head, either an attempt at suicide or a drastic way to recover his hearing, but dives into the pool before they ignite. Frankie flushes all his drugs down a toilet, but is once again tormented by a vision of a menacing coke badger, and when he fights and kills it, he learns that the badger is, in fact, himself. Frankie finds a deaf organization and meets Penelope, who coaches him in lip-reading. They become close, and eventually intimate. He confides his unhappiness at losing music, and she helps him perceive sound through visual and tactile methods instead. Frankie manages to devise a system for mixing songs, in which he watches an oscilloscope trace while resting his feet on the pulsating speakers. Using this system, he manages to produce a new mix CD (''Hear No Evil'') entirely by himself. He delivers it to Max, who is wildly pleased – particularly by the potential of exploiting Frankie's disability to increase record sales. He has Frankie take part in promotions that are increasingly offensive and insensitive to deaf people, of which Penelope disapproves. Max convinces Frankie to play live at Pacha as a career comeback, despite Frankie's insistence that he has nothing to prove to his critics. The gig goes exceedingly well, and many claim it shows even greater talent than his early work. After the show, Frankie and Penelope disappear from Max and the music scene altogether. In a talking heads sequence, characters speculate on where he is now, if alive. As the film ends, we see Frankie disguised as a homeless street musician, who is met by Penelope carrying their child. They affectionately walk together down a street unrecognised. Additionally, we see Frankie teaching a group of deaf children how to perceive sound like he does.


Characters and cast

* Frankie Wilde ( Paul Kaye) is the king of DJs, slowly losing his hearing, and soon to lose everything he thinks is important to him: his job, his fame and his trophy wife. * Penelope (
Beatriz Batarda Beatriz da Silveira Moreno Batarda (born 1 April 1974) is a British-born Portuguese actress named as one of European films 'Shooting Stars' by European Film Promotion in 1998. She studied design at IADE Institute in Lisbon and trained in acting a ...
) is the deaf lip-reading instructor who gives Frankie the tough love he never had and always needed. * Sonya (
Kate Magowan Katie Victoria "Kate" Magowan (born 1 June 1975) is an English actress and producer. She has been in film, theatre, television and radio productions. Her best known role is Princess Una in the 2007 feature film '' Stardust''. She is married to ...
) is Frankie's supermodel wife. Her days are filled with deciding on what theme is more appropriate for their garden: Japanese or Spanish? * Max Haggar ( Mike Wilmot) is Frankie's agent. Fat, balding and brash, Max is all about money and his mobile phone is his lifeline. * Jack Stoddart ( Neil Maskell) is the ruthless
CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...
of Motor Records who has no sympathy for Frankie. He says, "I didn’t want a deaf DJ on the label. I didn’t want the company to be touched with the deaf stamp. Well, business is tough and sometimes you have to make awkward decisions and I’ve made harder decisions than dropping the deaf DJ."


Cameos

Several real world DJs appear in the film, lending the film a sense of authenticity, like
Carl Cox Carl Cox (born 29 July 1962) is a British house and techno club DJ, as well as radio DJ and record producer. He is based in Hove, Sussex, England. Cox has won and been nominated for numerous awards. He has performed at numerous clubs and e ...
,
Fatboy Slim Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist f ...
and Pete Tong himself, who also executive produced the film. Others include
Tiësto Tijs Michiel Verwest (; born 17 January 1969), known professionally as Tiësto ( ), is a Dutch DJ and music producer from Breda. He was voted "the Greatest DJ of All Time" by ''Mix'' magazine in a 2010/2011 poll amongst fans. In 2013, he was vo ...
, Sarah Main, Barry Ashworth,
Paul van Dyk Matthias Paul (; born 16 December 1971), known professionally as Paul van Dyk () is a German DJ, record producer and musician. One of the first true renowned DJs, van Dyk was the first artist to receive a Grammy Award nomination in the newly a ...
and Lol Hammond. '' Fubar'' rockers Paul Spence and David Lawrence, from Dowse's earlier film, also have cameos as Austrian hangers-on.


Music


Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack was released by EMI on 4 October 2005 as a double disc
soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
for the film. The 'Night' & 'Day' concept for the soundtrack album was conceived and compiled by Ben Cherrill, who was, at the time, A&R manager for Positiva Records/EMI. Additional production and mixing was by James Doman. ; Track listing ; CD 1 # " Pacific State" –
808 State 808 State are an English electronic music group formed in 1987 in Manchester, taking their name from the Roland TR-808 drum machine. They were formed by Graham Massey, Martin Price and Gerald Simpson. They released their debut album, '' New ...
(exclusive mix) # "Cloud Watch" – Lol Hammond # "Dry Pool Suicide" – Graham Massey # "
Moonlight Sonata The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, marked ''Quasi una fantasia'', Op. 27, No. 2, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven. It was completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil Countess Giulietta Guicciardi. The popular name ''Mo ...
" – Graham Massey # "Baby Piano" – Lol Hammond # "Ku Da Ta" –
Pete Tong Peter Michael Tong, (born 30 July 1960) is an English disc jockey who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as '' Essential Mix'' and '' Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio s ...
(Jay & Dylan McHugh Re-Work) # "Mirage" – Moroccan Blonde (Ben Cherrill, James Doman and Lol Hammond) # "Troubles" – Beta Band # "Parlez Moi D'Amour" –
Lucienne Boyer Lucienne Boyer (18 August 1901 – 6 December 1983) was a French diseuseMansfield News Journal 9 November 1934 pg. 20 and singer, best known for her song " Parlez-moi d'amour". Her impresario was Bruno Coquatrix. Early career Born as Émilienne ...
# "Need To Feel Loved (Horizontal Mix)" – Reflekt # "It's Over" – Beta Band # "Halo (Goldfrapp Remix)" –
Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depech ...
# "How Does It Feel?" – Afterlife # "Holdin' On" –
Ferry Corsten Ferry Corsten (; born 4 December 1973) is a Dutch disc jockey, record producer and remixer from Rotterdam. He is well known for producing many pioneering trance tracks during the 1990s–2000s under his numerous aliases, including System F, Moon ...
# "Four-Four-Four" – Fragile State # "Music for a Found Harmonium" –
Penguin Café Orchestra The Penguin Cafe Orchestra (PCO) were an avant-pop band led by English guitarist Simon Jeffes. Co-founded with cellist Helen Liebmann, it toured extensively during the 1980s and 1990s. The band's sound is not easily categorized, having eleme ...
# "Learning to Lip-Read" – Graham Massey # "
Good Vibrations "Good Vibrations" is a song by the American rock music, rock band the Beach Boys that was composed by Brian Wilson with lyrics by Mike Love. It was released as a single on October 10, 1966 and was an immediate critical and commercial hit, toppi ...
" –
The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...
# "Interlude" – Ben Cherrill and James Doman # "White Lines" – Barefoot ; CD 2 # "Intro" # "DJs in a Row" – Schwab # "Flashdance (Raul Rincon Mix)" – Deep Dish # "Good 2 Go" – Juggernaut (Ben Cherrill and James Doman) ''Mixed With'' "Rock That House Musiq" – Christophe Monier and DJ Pascal feat. Impulsion # "Blue Water" – Black Rock # "Back to Basics" – Shapeshifters # "Up & Down" – Scent # "Serendipity" –
Steve Mac Steve McCutcheon (born 15 January 1972), known professionally as Steve Mac, is a British record producer, songwriter and musician. A multi-award-winning producer, he is one of the most prolific songwriters and record producers in modern Briti ...
&
Pete Tong Peter Michael Tong, (born 30 July 1960) is an English disc jockey who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as '' Essential Mix'' and '' Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio s ...
Presents Lingua Franca # "Plastic Dreams (Radio Edit)" – Jaydee # "Rock Your Body Rock" –
Ferry Corsten Ferry Corsten (; born 4 December 1973) is a Dutch disc jockey, record producer and remixer from Rotterdam. He is well known for producing many pioneering trance tracks during the 1990s–2000s under his numerous aliases, including System F, Moon ...
# "Can You Hear Me Now" – Double Funk feat. Paul Kaye (Ben Cherrill and James Doman) # "Musak (Steve Lawler Mix)" – Trisco # "Yimanya" – Filterheadz # "Need To Feel Loved (Seb Fontaine and Jay P's Mix)" – Reflekt feat. Delline Bass # "More Intensity" –
Pete Tong Peter Michael Tong, (born 30 July 1960) is an English disc jockey who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as '' Essential Mix'' and '' Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio s ...
and Chris Cox # "Frenetic (Short Mix)" –
Orbital Orbital may refer to: Sciences Chemistry and physics * Atomic orbital * Molecular orbital * Hybrid orbital Astronomy and space flight * Orbit ** Earth orbit Medicine and physiology * Orbit (anatomy), also known as the ''orbital bone'' * Orbito ...


Score

Songs used in film but not included in the soundtrack: # "Al Sharp" –
The Beta Band The Beta Band were a Scottish musical group formed in 1996. Their style was described as being "folktronica", although it was mainly a blend of folk, psychedelia, electronica, experimental rock and trip hop, often involving stylistic experiment ...
# "Flamenco" – Flamenco Ibiza # "Get On" – Moguai # "G-Spot" – Lol Hammond # "Hear No Evil" – Lol Hammond # "I Like It (Sinewave Surfer Mix)" – Narcotic Thrust # "Messa da Requiem" –
Riccardo Muti Riccardo Muti, (; born 28 July 1941) is an Italian conductor. He currently holds two music directorships, at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and at the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini. Muti has previously held posts at the Maggio Musicale i ...
/La Scala Milan # "Electronika" – Vada # " Rise Again" – DJ Sammy # "Ritcher Scale Madness" – ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead # "The Aviator" – Michael McCann # "Up & Down (Super Dub)" – Scent # "You Can't Hurry Love" –
The Concretes The Concretes are a Swedish indie pop band from Stockholm, composed of eight members. History The Concretes began with Victoria Bergsman, Maria Eriksson, and Lisa Milberg. Since their formation in 1995, they have grown into an eight piece ban ...
# "Rock That House Musiq" – Impulsion


Release

The film was premiered at the
2004 Toronto International Film Festival The 29th Toronto International Film Festival ran from September 9 through September 18. The festival screened 328 films of which 253 were features and 75 were shorts (148 of the films screened were in a language other than English). Awards No fi ...
. It was released in the United States on 15 April 2005 and on 26 May in the United Kingdom.


Home media

The DVD was released on 20 September 2005. The U.S. version of the DVD includes 5.1 Dolby Digital, subtitles and several extras that were part of the online/web marketing campaign: ''Frankie Wilde: The Rise'', ''Frankie Wilde: The Fall'' and ''Frankie Wilde: The Redemption''.


Reception


Commercial performance

The film made $2,226,603, a little under a quarter million above its $2 million budget.


Critical response

The film has a rating of 76% based on 71 reviews on the review aggregator website ''
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
'', the critical consensus stating, "Part raucous mockumentary, part drama-filled biopic, ''It's All Gone Pete Tong'' amuses and warms hearts with its touching, comic, and candid look at a musician faced with a career-ending handicap." On ''
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
'', it has a score of 56 based on 22 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Giving the film three stars,
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
says the film works because of its "heedless comic intensity", chronicling the rise and fall of Frankie Wilde in the film's first two acts "as other directors have dealt with emperors and kings".
Frankie may not be living the most significant life of our times, but tell that to Frankie. There is a kind of desperation in any club scene (as ''24-Hour Party People'' memorably demonstrated); it can be exhausting, having a good time, and the relentless pursuit of happiness becomes an effort to recapture remembered bliss from the past.
Melissa Mohaupt writing in ''
Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...
'' noted "resemblances to various hipster films about music, drugs, excess and failure" such as '' Trainspotting'', ''
Boogie Nights ''Boogie Nights'' is a 1997 American period comedy-drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It is set in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley and focuses on a young nightclub dishwasher who becomes a popular star of pornograph ...
'', yet it "never feels stale". There are plenty of quotable quips, and even Frankie's attempted suicide is "high-larious". She says the film manages to be "uplifting without being preachy or cheesy. There are important life lessons to be learned here, or you could just ignore them and enjoy some clever comedy." Ken Eisner of ''
The Georgia Straight ''The Georgia Straight'' is a free Canadian weekly news and entertainment newspaper published in Vancouver, British Columbia, by Overstory Media Group. Often known simply as ''The Straight'', it is delivered to newsboxes, post-secondary schools ...
'' liked the film's "zippy visual style, with sun-dappled primary colours and whirlwind editing to go with the hip pop tunes and block-rockin' beats". He appreciated the fact that Dowse does not milk the many cameos, though the two ''Fubar'' actors may have been a bit much. Dennis Harvey, writing for '' Variety'', found those first two acts depressing and decidedly not as advertized (the film was hyped as another ''
This is Spinal Tap ''This Is Spinal Tap'' (also known as ''This Is Spınal Tap: A Rockumentary by Martin Di Bergi'') is a 1984 American mockumentary film co-written and directed by Rob Reiner (in his feature directorial debut). The film stars Christopher Guest, M ...
''), but Michael Dowse rescues the film with "a particularly deft transitional montage that begins with Frankie discovering the musical properties of vibration... segues into lead duo's first lovemaking, and goes on as Frankie re-connects with the dance rhythms he’d thought were lost to him". Nick De Semlyen, writing for ''
Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
'', gave the film two stars, noting there were powerful moments in the film, but thought it was "too dark for casual viewers (or fans of Tong), too blunt to succeed as cult viewing". ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...
s Peter Bradshaw gave the film one star, panning it as "breathtakingly charmless and humourless", writing that "Paul Kaye gives a frazzled, one-note performance", while the "appearances by real-life DJs should tip you off that any satire involved is of an essentially celebratory and sycophantic sort; the comedy is leaden, the drama is flat and the attitude to deaf people is Neanderthal".


Accolades


Awards

*
Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...
, Best Canadian Feature – 2004 * US Comedy Arts Festival, Best Feature, Best Actor (Paul Kaye) – 2005 *
Gen Art Film Festival Gen Art is an arts and entertainment organization that showcases emerging fashion designers, filmmakers, musicians and visual artists. It has produced over 100 events annually, which included fashion shows, film premieres and screenings, live mus ...
, Grand Jury Award, Audience Award – 2005 * Vancouver Film Critics Circle, Best British Columbian Film – 2005 *
Canadian Comedy Awards The Canadian Comedy Awards (CCA) is an annual ceremony that awards the Beaver for achievements in Canadian comedy in live performance, radio, film, television, and Internet media. The awards were founded and produced by Tim Progosh in 2000. T ...
, Best Performance by a Male - Film (Mike Wilmot) – 2005 *
Leo Awards The Leo Awards are the awards program for the British Columbia film and television industry. Held each May or June in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the Leo Awards were founded by the Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Foundation of British C ...
Best Overall Sound, Best Sound Editing, Best Feature-Length Drama – 2005


Nominations

* Method Fest, Best Actor, Best Feature * BIFA, Best Achievement in Production *
Genie Awards The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...
(8)


Adaptations

The film was remade in
Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...
by the Indian film director Neerav Ghosh, titled ''
Soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
'' and was released in 2011.


See also

* List of films featuring the deaf and hard of hearing


References


External links


Official web site

FrankieWilde.com

Official trailer
on YouTube * * {{TIFF Best Canadian Film 2004 films 2000s English-language films HanWay Films films Vertigo Films films Canadian mockumentary films Canadian independent films Canadian comedy films English-language Canadian films Films directed by Michael Dowse Deaf culture in the United Kingdom British Sign Language films Films set in Ibiza Films about DJs Films about deaf people 2000s Canadian films