Eclectic Cinema: Quadrophenia

Eclectic Cinema in Cheltenham will be showing the 1970s classic soon

Quadrophenia, above all else, does a fantastic job of evoking time, place and a cultural era.

1964. England. Mods and rockers.

The plot revolves around a young man struggling to find his way in the world on one scale, and on another, a clash between the two warring clans in Brighton one weekend, the likes of which have since become iconic. The production showcases an ensemble of young British talent, including Phil Davis, Ray Winstone, Leslie Ash and an appearance from a young Timothy Spall. All of whom do great work, and crucially they work so well together to create a tapestry of misguided youth so compelling and authentic feeling it might not be out of place in a school syllabus.

Phil Daniels plays Jimmy, a young Mod who lives for three things: parties, pills and his scooter (t least that is what his outward personality would have you believe) Three things that he can rely on to take him out of the mundane drudgery of everyday life and the killjoys that are his job, his parents and the system. Jimmy is played by Daniels with a wildly fluctuating energy and unpredictability. Perhaps what I'd really most important to him is his identity: ''I don't wanna be the same as everybody else. That's why I'm a Mod, see? I mean, you gotta be somebody, ain't ya, or you might as well jump in the sea and drown'.

The film is nowadays perhaps best remembered for it's soundtrack and production credits from The Who (all are exec producers), which is slightly unflattering legacy for such a pop culture time capsule and incisive, divisive icon of British film history.