Quadrophenia

Jimmy (Phil Daniels) works in the post-office during the day in a job he hates. He lives for the weekends when he gets together with his mod friends, dresses up in sharp suits, pops amphetamine pills and dances to soul and power-pop in London clubs. The group of Mods decide to head down to Brighton for the weekend and while there, getting drunk and getting high on speed, they clash with a rival gang of working-class youth, the Rockers, whose musical tastes run to the legends of the fifties - Elvis, Bill Haley, Chuck Berry et. al. - and whose dress is blue-collar jeans and t-shirts. Set in 1965 and loosely based on The Who’s conceptual album of the same name, “Quadrophenia” is a kinetic film about youth culture, alienation and working class life. Featuring an explosive musical score by The Who, as well as great soul and rock music from the fifties and sixties, “Quadrophenia” is by turns both a perceptive and critical examination of leisure and work. Jimmy’s job confines him to a drudgery like that of his parents. It is a life that he wants to escape. He is free only through the exhilaration of music and drugs. With Sting, Toyah Willcox and Ray Winstone.