Remember the rock doc, “Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten” that played Sundance ’07 and was released by IFC late last summer in the U.S.?
It’s finally coming to DVD on June 24 according to Amazon and Pitchfork. Anything extra on it? Both sources don’t say.
Our “review,” was this: Julian Temple (the man behind The Sex Pistols doc “The Filth & The Fury“) doesn’t do a disservice here to his late Clash buddy Joe Strummer in the fair and balanced ‘Future Is Unwritten.’ The film is neither a love-letter to Strummer, nor is it the toppling of a sacred cow, but rather a reflective look back at the punk rock icon warts and all. Or as Temple describes it: “not a hero-worship film.” The film features glowing testimonials with such Strummer disciples as Martin Scorsese (he says “Raging Bulls” was directly influenced by the Clash), a typically effusive Bono, a stoned Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream, worst-teeth on the planet Brit John Cooper Clarke, filmmaker Don Letts, John Cusack, Steve Buscemi, Jim Jarmusch, The Sex Pistols’ Steve Jones and Johnny Depp who’s tribute is extremely difficult to take seriously while still in full ‘Pirates’ make-up and ratty goatee.
We didn’t do cartwheels for it or anything, but it was decent enough and worth watching if you missed it last year (hello, Netflix queue).