Creation Stories: Routine Biopic Elevated by Strong Source Material and Killer Music
By Kim Hughes
Rating: B
Ah, the rock and roll biopic, that by-now familiar filmic smorgasbord of decadence, drugs, and eventual redemption set in motion by a troubled childhood and played out against an amazing soundtrack.
Creation Stories, which might be subtitled “The Rise and Fall of Alan McGee and Creation Records,” follows that storytelling template pretty much exactly though it has a few aces to play. For starters, Ewan Bremner captures the adult McGee’s mongrel swagger, coming full circle from his role as the calamitous but tender Spud in Trainspotting. (Leo Flanagan plays McGee as a kid).
And the soundtrack! Creation Records was inarguably the most defining independent British record label of the 1980s and early-to-mid 90s, putting not just bands but entire musical movements on the map. Witness post-punk (Jesus and Mary Chain), shoegaze (My Bloody Valentine, Swervedriver, Slowdive), alt-rock (Teenage Fanclub, Primal Scream, Silverfish, Boo Radleys), and most famously, Britpop (Oasis, Super Furry Animals), winning endless, fawning coverage from the then-super-influential British music papers that once captivated the young McGee in hometown Glasgow.
It’s there that Creation Stories begins, as a young, misfit McGee struggles to channel his twin passions for music and making money into a viable career as his abusive, macho father belittles and bashes him. An early turning point comes when McGee sees the Sex Pistols on television and is swept into the blistering excitement of punk rock, soon after heading to London to pursue fame and/or infamy, whichever comes first for his band The Laughing Apple.
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The band is not a hit, but McGee — inspired equally by David Bowie, Malcom McLaren, and a record shop clerk — cottons to the notion of ancillary musical involvement. Management and the label give way to a roller coaster ride of drink, drugs but also world domination.
Scenes of the exceptionally charmless Jim and William Reid of Jesus and Mary Chain sparring with the press establish McGee and Creation as a new kind of musical beast. There’s also the infamous row with My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields over the spiralling and exorbitantly expensive (but ultimately amazing) Loveless album. Much later, a missed train leads McGee to a Manchester pub where he accidentally encounters a cocky, fledgling Oasis.
In typical McGeespeak, the braintrust behind Creation were “accidental alchemists” though the film makes clear that the fortunes of the label fluctuated wildly. Yet much of the band stuff, though fascinating to us music geeks, is window-dressing as Creation Stories is unequivocally a McGee biopic.
As such, it delves into his family life (supportive and loving sisters and mother, awful father), his stormy romantic life, and his own demons kicked into gear by drugs, but which nevertheless led to some amazing discoveries, such as house music courtesy an ecstasy trip.
Perhaps conveniently for the filmmakers but tedious for the viewer is an extended, recurring scene of McGee recalling and recounting his career via an interview with a journalist, sending us into flashbacks. Handy sure but… sigh. That device already felt tired when Salieri confessed to a priest in Amadeus. There are also some hallucinatory moments more distracting than charming. But gems lurk.
Astute ears will recognize strains of The House of Love in one scene, and co-writers Irvine Welsh and Dean Cavanagh keep the dialog crisp with all the snappy Scottish witticisms you’d expect. Director Nick Moran gets the temperature of the era mostly right, and effectively weaves this extraordinary source material into a watchable if formulaic two hours.
Creation Stories. Directed by Nick Moran. Starring Ewan Bremner, Suki Waterhouse, Rori Hawthorn, Richard Jobson, and Irvine Welsh. Available July 20 on VOD on the major cable providers as well as Apple TV, iTunes, Google Play, YouTube Movies and Microsoft Store.