It's All Gone Pete Tong

Plot synopsis:
Frankie Wilde was a music producer and a DJ, born in London (United Kingdom). After years of playing in night-clubs he loses his hearing. Frankie's loss of hearing is first apparent when he hears a high-pitched whine instead of an Arsenal football match on TV. At this time, Frankie is making his next album with his "two Austrian mates" Alfonse and Horst, who seem more suited for a rock band. Frankie continues working on his album and playing gigs at clubs, but his hearing degrades rapidly. As a result, progress on his album stagnates. However, 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. The result sounds terrible, and the crowd boos him. Overcome with fear and frustration, he throws the turntable and the mixer onto the dance floor, and is forcibly removed from the club.
The next day, Max confronts Frankie about the performance. Frankie agrees to see a doctor, who tells him he's 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. Even the use of his hearing aid would only further degrade his hearing.
Then, 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, however, a frustrated Horst smashes a guitar into an amplifier whose volume Frankie has maximized. The noise is excruciating, and the feedback knocks Frankie unconscious. The damage leaves him permanently deaf.
Without his hearing, Frankie cannot complete his album. He loses his recording contract, and Max abandons him. Soon after, Sonya leaves him. The talking head sequences describe this period as his darkest hour, in which he shuts himself into his home, which he has "soundproofed" with pillows in a desperate bid to recover his hearing. His drug use intensifies, and he appears to be heavily depressed. In one scene, he repeatedly throws his body against the walls. In other, he wraps 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.
In a culmination moment of the movie, Frankie flushes all his drugs down a toilet, only to be faced with the vision of the menacing badger again. The two begin to scuffle, with Frankie eventually gaining the upper hand and beating the badger with a shovel, then grabbing a shotgun and shooting it, upon which the badger begins to bleed cocaine. Frankie then grabs the dying badger's head, and removes it, only to reveal that the badger is, in fact, himself. He then shoots the dying vision of himself in the head.
After this dark period, Frankie finds a deaf organization and meets Penelope, an instructor for the deaf 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 then manages to devise a system for mixing songs, in which he watches an oscilloscope trace while resting his feet on the pulsating speakers, a callback to an earlier claim he made in the film about flip flops. Using this system, he heads to the studio and manages to produce new mix CD (Hear No Evil) entirely by himself. He delivers it to Max, who is wildly pleased – particularly by the potential of using Frankie's disability to increase record sales. He has Frankie take part in advertising and promotional deals which are increasingly offensive and insensitive to deaf people, which Penelope silently disapproves of. He also treats Penelope like he did Sonya; as Frankie's sexual object, not recognizing her substantial role in Frankie's life. In general, Max tends to patronizingly characterize the deaf as pained, helpless victims desperate for a deaf role model.
Max convinces Frankie to play live at Pacha as a career comeback. He thinks it is an opportunity for Frankie to prove himself to others, despite Frankie's insistence that he has nothing to prove to his critics. The gig goes exceedingly well, and many claim it showcases even greater talent than his early work. After the show, Frankie and Penelope disappear from Max, the media, 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 then met by Penelope and a child (presumably their own). They affectionately walk together down a street unrecognized. Additionally, we see Frankie teaching a group of deaf children how to perceive sound like he does.

Tags: comedy, flashback

Review:
Paul Kaye (some of you will remember his often hilarious Dennis Pennis taking the mickey out of celebrities at film premiers) plays Frankie Wilde a mega famous DJ who's bringing dance music to Ibiza.
Although a gag-fest, filled with dirty humour and teenage-boy jokes, It's All Gone Pete Tong is a funny, witty film which will happily fill an hour or two in the coming summer months..
I can't say anything about it else it'll spoil it for you, but look it up.It's All Gone Pete Tong is a story about Frankie Wilde, a DJ who hit the decks of Ibiza.
For anyone who's a club/trance fan, you'll recognize a lot of familiar faces in the film: Pete Tong (of course), Carl Cox (one of my favorites), Sarah Main, Paul Van Dyk (my #1), Tiesto (he looks a lot different on screen) talking about the life of Frankie Wilde.One of the people next to me commented that this started out like Requiem for a Dream.
Give this film the time and you'll see how the director and the actors create a very simple but uplifting story about redemption and change and romance.The soundtrack, covering everything from dance to the Beach Boys (with an appropriate track at the end) is simply to die for.
Knowing a little bit about dance music (Moby, Paul Oakenfold, Fatboy Slim) and having watched just a couple of flicks (Go, Groove, 24 Hour Party People), my expectations were low.
Paul Kaye does a remarkable job capturing both the humorous and painful essence of Frankie Wilde, a God-like worshiped DJ hammered with immense fame, beautiful girls, endless drugs and the physical toll of his role in the music scene.
Paul Kaye is the perfect type for this DJ-character in the Ibiza music & party scene.
This movie (Pete Tong) was the first big Paul Kaye movie I really was looking forward to, until I read that the director was the same person who directed (and wrote) Fubar, which I cringed through and had to leave the room.
While there is dance and rave in the film, it's really a backdrop for this simple story of a complex man who has to make some tough choices in life (and deal with a disability that is his worst nightmare).Paul did an extraordinary job and I have to admit that the director really surprised me with this film, as it was nothing like his previous work.
there was this one part when My girlfriend and I were the only ones laughing at one part of the movie, and everyone else was dead serious, and I think the audience could have had a little bit better sense of humor, but whatever, I had a great time.
The good thing about this that's at least fresh: Almost no movies about dance music and the club scene (if even made) hit the cinemas.
The production department and cinematography still try to save the day (e.g. Paul's home).In a strange way and unexpectedly so It's all gone Pete Tong works much better as a simple drama in the line of Almost Famous.
It's all gone Pete Tong is the story about an Ibizian DJ, Frankie Wild (who is a loud mouthed, cocaine addicted party animal).
Years of doing sets in the loud drug scened clubs are starting to set their toll on Frankie who is losing his hearing much to the annoyance of his agent, who cant seem to get a word of him.
It's all gone Pete Tong is hilarious when it's funny and if anyone was going to play Frankie Wild it had to be Paul Kaye.
To be honest, i can't think of anyone in this film that didn't stand out as a great character.If you don't have a dark sense of humour then this is probably a movie to avoid but if you're a little twisted like me then i think you'll like it..
First proper 'dance' film, flash dance doesn't count!Captures the spirit of Ibiza and the excitement of the electronic dance scene in generalIts not actually about drugs or dance music per Se, its about what happens to the character, its moving, poignant, well crafted, clever in places.
If you didn't get this you missed the point.Paul Kaye delivers a blinding performance, nice one Boyzie!Its a real howler in places but not overdone and there's a few in jokes, watch out for the amphibian....Credit to the producer who suggested the story of Frankie Wilde.Well done to the whole team a major achievement, now 'Who Likes to F-u-c-k-i-n Party?".
I give this film a 9 out of 10.Saw it yesterday at the LA premiere at the theatre on Sunset and Crescent Heights.Had no idea what to expect (and will admit I probably only ended up seeing it because it had the name Pete Tong in the title), but it was without a doubt my favorite film of the year, and one that I will never forget.Don't have long to post a comment but..go see it for yourself!It's a great movie and you won't regret it!.
You may say, "whaaa?!" but the real story about this movie is that it's an in-depth character study about Frankie Wilde, a man who has everything (or so he thinks), and then deafness causes him to lose what he thinks are his prized possessions: wife, career, agent, house, kid, best friend.
With It's All Gone Pete Tong, director Michael Dowse gives us a funny, original and heartwarming mockumentary.
It's All Gone Pete Tong tells the story of a DJ who is addicted to drugs and alcohol, yet people call his music brilliant.
Qualities that usually are liked in people, but as the film goes on he loses all of these things and he get to know Frankie on a more personal level.The scene involving his kick of his drug addiction is both hilarious and frightening.
Drug addiction, disability and infidelity are all present in this film, but Dowse uses them in a comedic way that it doesn't seem out of place with the rest of the film.Paul Kaye is tremendous as Frankie.
I immediately saw a connection between the two and when classical music began playing it confirmed it.It's All Gone Pete Tong is a comedic film that not only has laughs, but life lessons as well.
I have no idea who this Paul Kaye is, but let me tell you, he has the most riveting blue eyes I've ever seen, so it's next to impossible to forget someone like him, he makes his character (actually named Frankie Wilde) someone you'll remember.
All I knew was that it was supposed to be an entertaining film containing club music, drugs and DJ:s like Carl Cox, Tïesto and Pete Tong which all seemed appealing to an old clubber like me.
To my surprise I got to watch a somewhat deep movie about life changing events in an interesting persons life rather than just another comedy like I had expected.
Listening to the silence he finds more than deafness and void, finds the richness of a world that constantly comes to being and vanishes again every moment, the joy of being able to ride that flow, we see frequencies pass through a laptop screen that he has to match, his feet are strapped to vibrating speakers, into the dancing crowd below.It's not different music that he plays (well, he gives a spectacular performance).
It's a mockumentary of DJ Frankie Wilde (Paul Kaye) who is well known within the Ibiza club scene.
Imagine 'Spinal Tap' meets 'Kevin & Perry Go Large' and you have pretty much summed up this mess of a film.And it starts so well, interviewing legit DJs and dance music moguls about the imaginary legend DJ Frankie Wilde.
It also doesn't help that the film is completely scripted (and not very well at that) so the whole effect looks very false.The film's redeeming second half in which it battles with Wilde's deafness sensitively and thought provokingly almost drags the film up to a decent standard, with a decent film twist and a feel good feeling, but you can't help feeling that it could have been done a lot better, and not as rushed.However, the film does have some good features, for instance Paul Kayes is brilliant as Frankie, becoming the character instantly, and rattling off a number of great one liners like a pro.
He is probably the films strongest point.It also has decided not to just opt for the stereotypical Ibiza feel of partying, drugs and Britishness, although it shows this side it also shows a beautiful, poignant and Spanish side to the devil's isle.I liked this film because of my love of dance music and Ibiza, however as a film standing up on its own it inevitably fails and probably has a future destined to the bargain bin section of HMV..
After going to watch another film at the cinema, I saw the trailer for "Its all gone Pete Tong".
Love this movie and great acting!Looks good, hilarious subtle comedy, and you hate a character in the beginning that you end up loving at the end.Stupendous job..
It's All Gone Pete TongAny music that you need to be near-death in order to listen to cannot be that good for you.Mind you, it's not the mollies that are ailing the DJ in this dramedy, well not entirely.Informed by his doctor that he is slowly going deaf, cocksure DJ Frankie Wilde (Paul Kaye) refuses to listen to him, continuing to abuse drugs and carrying on with recording his new album.When he finally bottoms out, Frankie gets help from a lip-reading instructor (Beatriz Batarda) who shows him how to make music through the use of sight and touch.A darkly humored character study of an unlikeable jerk that also happens to be the quintessential EDM DJ movie, this Canadian-made Independent film strikes the perfect balance between goof- ball antics, deep-seated personal issues and a sick soundtrack.On the bright side, as a deaf artist you no longer have to listen criticism anymore.Green Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca.
Pete Tong has a definite Trainspotting vibe to it and has been cheekily filmed as a sort of mockumentary, with real DJ's being interviewed about the genius of Frankie Wilde and their theories on what happened to him since his disappearance from the scene.
The movie then follows the legendary British DJ as he works the club circuit in Ibiza, loses his hearing, succumbs to drug addiction, fights the coke badger (awesome) and comes out the other side a very different person.Paul Kaye, Wow, what a performance he gives.
He scarily managed to convince me that he was Frankie Wilde and that his world had collapsed in the most terrible way possible for a DJ.Shockingly enjoyable, many scenes are laugh out loud funny, gross, moving, honest and truly captures a time when everyone was "on one".
I was absolutely impressed by this movie, and it has become one of my favorite movies of its kind: rise-fall-life-after-fall.It is a so-called mockumentary about English DJ Frankie Wilde, who, at the beginning of the movie, is the absolute reigning star of the rave and dance scene in the world mecca of that movement, Ibiza.
We're filled in on his stardom, wild eccentricity, heavy drug addiction, and above all his passionate love for music and his profession, at which he is especially gifted among DJs (for all DJ culture lovers, the movie includes brief but enjoyable headshots of DJs such as Tiesto, Paul van Dyk and others, talking about Frankie Wilde).The middle part of the movie narrates the fall, when Frankie starts to suffer from the worst ailment that a DJ can have: he was born with a progressive hearing failure, and his wild lifestyle has made it worsen very fast.
This part is also a commentary of the proverbial loneliness of the fallen star: his wife, his fans, his producer, all turn their back on him, and his fellow DJs now claim not to know his whereabouts anymore.The third part begins when Frankie touches rock bottom, and his life after that.All in all, "It's all gone, Pete Tong" follows a classic rise-fall-rise scheme, and in this sense, it doesn't really offer anything ground-breaking.
The main character, Frankie Wilde, is also very likable, even at the beginning when he's such an extreme impersonation of a lifestyle gone out of control -this is possible thanks to Paul Kaye's extraordinary acting job.
Thirdly, like I said, the movie is never overly dramatic, its goal is not to make the audience cry, but to listen to the story, to follow this person, to reflect on the many commentaries and possible morals of the story -the relationship between stardom and dehumanization or loss of authenticity, the loneliness of the fallen hero, etc.- but also to have a good time and to laugh (the movie is very funny, and it adequately mixes different kinds of humor: dry, witty, sarcastic, surreal, visual, crude...).
I've wanted to see it for some time now and even though I'm not into dance I found it very interesting, with very good performances all round, especially Paul Kaye.I found some of the scenes very touching, too.
Being a drummer, I've recently starting suffering from Tinnitus and so could relate a little to how it must feel to lose your hearing and the feelings and emotions one gets with that and so I think this film does a good job of showing the dangers of listening to music too loudly, although it wasn't really the aim of the film.All in all, I'd recommend it although I think it does go heavy on the language and drink and drugs for a 15 cert (although that keeps it real) and also it suffers a bit in the pacing department.
It's All Gone Pete Tong is based on the true story of a wild and crazy British DJ named Frankie Wilde who likes to live life up and party all the time.
Because of playing at loud parties and his wild lifestyle Frankie soon starts to lose his hearing until one day he is deaf.
The film shows how Frankie deals with being deaf and how he overcomes it and eventually continues to put out music and DJ.
It's All Gone Pete Tong has good direction, a good screenplay, a great performance by Paul Kaye as Frankie Wilde, good original music, good film editing and good cinematography.
The film has great performances especially by Paul Kaye and is full of a lot of energy and life which makes this film very entertaining.
"It's All Gone Pete Tong" plays like a club or rave flick ala Go or Groove, with a dash of mockumentary Christopher Guest style, but it turns a corner in the second half into a sappy, but enjoyable, romantic comedy.
There are great shots of inside the clubs, 'real' interviews with DJs and some (not enough) good Ibiza music.
I would have perhaps felt more sympathy for Paul's character, Frankie Wilde, had he actually had any redeeming features, but he is a boorish, selfish lout and thus, when bad things befell him, I thought 'Good!'.And as for the tacked on ending...
This film takes place on the party island of Ibiza and revolves around the life of a DJ who is slowly going deaf.
This is supposed to be the true story about Frankie Wilde, the great Ibiza DJ sheik, who got deaf, divorced and nearly dead because of the cocaine devil.
It may not sound like a premise for comedy, but It's All Gone Pete Tong is often laugh-out loud hilarious.
Just for the record : even though we're informed at the very beginning of the movie that it's based on a true story, everyone who knows even a tiny bit about the dance music and club scene would find it fishy.
So now that we've got that Frankie Wilde is a fictional character out of the way, let's get to the movie itself.
So Frankie eventually goes deaf from years of noise exposure and subsequently his marriage wrecks, the club scene leaves him behind and he's forced to start a new life - free of drugs and excess, learning to read lips and finding true love in a form of his ( also deaf ) teacher.
Frankie's struggle show the amazing acting abilities of Paul Kaye who delivers this film to the crowd.
A new period comedy film set in Ibiza circa 1997 is about to hit the streets called 'It's All Gone Pete Tong'.
Paul Kaye's TV show "Strutter" is great, so I was curious what this movie was like.
I thought it would be a treat for us as my husband loves dance music and synthesizers and we both enjoyed seeing Paul Kaye's TV shows, especially "Perfect World." We thought the film started off well: my husband grinned at seeing familiar faces in the interview sequences and familiar places in the club scenes.
It was hilarious in a Looney Tunes cartoon style but a bit disturbing taking place after the stark recording studio scene.I couldn't really enjoy the humour of the film, because the farce of Frankie's drug taking, drinking, and partying didn't sit with the loss of his hearing.
I would recommend watching instead the original sources "It's All Gone Pete Tong" is trying to sample, and Paul Kaye's "Perfect World"..
Much like, Woody Allen's satire on film-making in Hollywood Ending, where a film director, after becoming blind, still makes a film, It's Gone Wrong Pete Tong, relies a great deal that the idea of a DJ going deaf will be really funny in a wildly satirical way.It's not.
Based on the true life of legendary disc jockey Frankie Wilde (Paul Kaye), this Ibiza rave based film uses both documentary style and regular comedy drama.
Kaye makes for an alright performance, and the music is very good listening, but it isn't exactly the funniest comedy films I've ever seen.