MFAH Film Series – Julien Temple: Absolute Beginners

Groundbreaking British filmmaker Julien Temple visits the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston to present and discuss highlights from his remarkable filmography.

After directing pioneering music videos for the Sex Pistols in the late 1970s, Temple created iconic videos for David Bowie, Culture Club, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, the Kinks, Sade, and many others.

He has also directed music documentaries (from 1979’s The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle to the 2015 South by Southwest award winner The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson) and feature films, including Absolute Beginners and Earth Girls Are Easy.

Complementing Temple’s visit is a selection of British punk-era collages by English artist Jamie Reid, on view outside Brown Auditorium Theater.

Thursday night’s schedule features the Sex Pistols with The Filth and the Fury plus a rare TV special, and Friday focuses on David Bowie with Absolute Beginners and a 20-minute version of the “Jazzin’ for Blue Jean” music video. The program concludes on Saturday with Earth Girls Are Easy.

Absolute Beginners

Directed by Julien Temple
1986
UK
108 minutes
35mm

Presented by director Julien Temple, who conducts a post-film Q&A.

After the screening, head over to MFAH Mixed Media—an homage to the ’80s and Temple’s music videos—from 8 p.m. to midnight!

This unconventional musical set in 1950s Britain centers on an 18-year-old photographer (Eddie O’Connell) with a fondness for the neon nightlife of jazz clubs. He is in love with Crepe Suzette (Patsy Kensit), an ambitious young beauty who abandons him for a powerful fashion designer.

The former lovers take parallel paths to success, capitalizing on the youth mania gripping the nation.

The film’s nostalgic, yet gently satirical, look at teen culture is tempered by a recognition of the era’s social tension, particularly a disturbing rise in racism. Despite these serious undertones, however, the film tells its story with a colorful vibrancy reminiscent of both MTV and old Hollywood musicals, filled with such show-stopping numbers as a memorable sequence in which David Bowie dances on a giant typewriter. —Allmovie.com

Preceded by Jazzin’ for Blue Jean.
(Directed by Julien Temple, UK, 1984, 20 minutes)

In the extended video for David Bowie’s “Blue Jean,” Vic (Bowie) falls for a girl and promises her tickets for the hottest act in town: rock star Screaming Lord Byron (also played by Bowie). He attains only one ticket, gives it to her, and tries to find another way into the concert. Two other Bowie songs are also included: “Don’t Look Down” and “Warszawa.”

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