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Poly Styrene: I Am a Clichédocumentary

Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché

2021

Celeste Bell, Paul Sng

Documentary, Self: Poly Styrene, Celeste Bell, Don Letts ...

6.3

44

Documentary Life and work of one of the most creative voices in British punk: Poly Styrene. Beyond explaining her influence on riot grrrl and afropunk, her daughter opens her memory chest in order to understand her mother and her personal demons. This film is not so much about Styrene, the passionate and bubbly Anglo-Somali queen of English punk, as it is about Marion Elliot, the hypersensitive and troubled mother of Celeste Bell, co-director of ... [+]

	Media	Author	Review
		Lisa Kennedy The New York Times	"A thoughtfully finessed filial reckoning: a daughter’s journey toward understanding her mother as a young artist and as a young woman of color"
		Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"[A] riveting and valuable documentary (...) There was something authentically heroic about Poly Styrene (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Leonie Cooper NME	"This must-watch documentary tells a story often erased from rock history (...) A perfect tribute to a complex, brilliant, groundbreaking woman (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Glenn Kenny rogerebert.com	"This is not a banal or mundane fake-objective music history doc: it’s an almost real-time chronicle of a daughter coming to grips with a mother’s legacy (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"
		Christopher Schobert The Film Stage	"The focus on Styrene’s multicultural identity is one of the keys to the film’s success"
		Tim Stegall Austin Chronicle	"Unique and effecting (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 5)"

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