Sid & Nancy - Turbine Blu-ray Mediabook Cover B

As I’ve covered other biopics throughout my run at HDD, I haven’t exactly hidden my dislike for them. While actors are given room to shine and deliver amazing performances, I’m often left irritated when these films come off as irritating imitations of the real-life subjects. Worse, these films often steal the limelight come award season, and the flatulent-sniffing accolades pour in, only to be steadily forgotten because those other movies were infinitely better. If there’s one cinematic genre I generally avoid as a rule, it’s the biopic. However, rules have exceptions, and the reason is films like Alex Cox’s Sid & Nancy exist. 

I think how I came to find Sid & Nancy was also equally important in my appreciation of this film. It was the early ‘90s, I was maybe thirteen years old, fourteen tops, and I really didn’t know anything about Sid Vicious or the Sex Pistols. The band existed in that pre-pubescant hazy ether of things my peers talked about but knew nothing of. So that first viewing of Sid & Nancy was a shock to the system as I witnessed young Dracula star Gary Oldman go absolutely mad in the throes of heavy addiction and his toxic relationship with Nancy Spungen. 

Sid & Nancy is not glossy; it’s certainly not romantic. It’s often dirty, disgusting, sometimes hilarious, and straight-up horrifying as tragic events unfold. There’s nothing glorifying these two individuals and their lifestyle. As so many biopics these days are so overly simplified to avoid any kind of controversy, it’s refreshing to go back to a film that is as honest as possible (it is a film after all) about the events without being sensationalist or glorifying or whitewashing. It’s raw. As Alex Cox does a terrific job managing the staging and events, this film is as impressive as it is because of the blistering performances from Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb. I wouldn’t call this a perfect film by any stretch, but as a Biopic, it’s in the top tier of the genre.

As my colleague Mr. Zyber reviewed the Criterion Blu-ray so eloquently and thoroughly, I’ll repost his thoughts here. (If you want to see what Josh has been up to lately, check out The Video File Blog.)  

For a bass guitarist who (allegedly) couldn't actually play bass guitar, contributed very little musically to the band he was a member of, and whose career (and, sadly, life) flamed out in a period of less than two years, Sid Vicious cast a very large shadow over the music scene and popular culture of the late 1970s. Though not the frontman for the Sex Pistols, he quickly emerged as the band's breakout star and an icon of punk music and youth rebellion before dying at the age of just 21. Given that a big point of the punk movement was to tear down and piss all over conventional ideas about music, entertainment, and culture, any attempt to make a movie about Sid Vicious' life faces the daunting challenge of avoiding the usual formulas and clichés of the biopic genre. For Sid & Nancy, director Alex Cox uses the excuse of a biopic to take viewers on a wild ride through the punk scene of the era.

After making a splash with the punk-infused cult comedy Repo Man, Cox seemed like an ideal choice to helm a movie about the Sex Pistols. The filmmaker claims that he was stirred to write the screenplay mainly to quash a competing project being developed for Rupert Everett and Madonna (which indeed sounds like a horrible idea). Evident from the title, he frames Sid's life through his relationship with groupie, girlfriend and addiction enabler Nancy Spungen. Viewed from an outside observer's perspective, Nancy could be seen as a parasite, whose short temper, mental health issues, and unchecked drug dependency matched and amplified Sid's own problems in these areas, ultimately leading to both their deaths in a very short time. Nevertheless, Sid was instantly infatuated with her, and the film views their tempestuous love affair from his point of view. Despite their constant fighting, struggling for money, deteriorating health and the eventual breakup of his band, Sid is continually drawn back to Nancy. When she dies first, he can't last much longer without her. In many ways, their story is a classic romantic tragedy, albeit one that wallows in a world of degenerate behavior and filth.

That Sid and Nancy's romance was doomed from the start surely came as no surprise to anyone who knew them, and its outcome is famous enough that Cox plays no games trying to hide it. The film opens in the immediate aftermath of Nancy's death. Certain details of the event are a matter of record and not in dispute: On the morning of October 12th, 1978, Nancy's body was found on the bathroom floor of the room she shared with Sid in the Hotel Chelsea in Manhattan, dead from a knife wound to the abdomen. Sid gave conflicting statements to police as to whether he stabbed her or not, and was so strung out that he probably didn't know or remember what really happened. Although charged with murder, Sid would be dead himself from a drug overdose in less than four months, before the case could go to trial.

The movie quickly flashes back to their first meeting to show us how things got to this point. Cox presents his theory of how Nancy died, and it seems plausible enough, but friends who knew the real couple deny it and were not pleased with either that scene or the way the film fictionalizes other details and events. (The depiction of Sex Pistols lead singer Johnny Rotten seems to be a major point of contention, and the actual man has vocally denounced the movie on many occasions). Such complaints are to be expected from any depiction of a true story, and they may even have merit. However, that shouldn't detract from the work as a piece of art or entertainment for someone who doesn't have a vested interest in seeing themselves or their friends portrayed flatteringly.

To play Sid, Cox cast a relatively unknown young actor named Gary Oldman, who had worked mainly in theater at that point, but whose role as a skinhead in Mike Leigh's TV movie Meantime caught some critical attention. Oldman claims that he didn't like punk music and only took the job for the money, but he clearly poured his all into it. His Sid is a creature of pure id who steamrolls through life unable or unwilling to give a fuck about anything or anyone (in other words, the perfect embodiment of the punk ethos), until he meets Nancy. It's a remarkably tricky feat on the actor's part to make an infantile monster with no impulse control into a sympathetic tragic figure, but Oldman pulls it off with extraordinary charisma.

In her first film role, Chloe Webb delivers a very shouty and grating performance as Nancy. That's not a criticism. Archival footage of the real woman shows that Webb is pretty bang-on accurate to how she behaved. Again, once you get past the surface abrasiveness, the character has unexpected layers.

Equally important to either of these two players is Cox's work with up-and-coming cinematographer Roger Deakins. The photography in the film is exquisite, far better than any that Cox would work with again in his future efforts. The two men find many moments of beauty and tenderness in the squalor of the story's setting – most famously the signature image of the two lovers kissing beside a dumpster as trash inexplicably rains from the sky around them. It's lyrical and repulsive all at once.

One thing the movie fails to do adequately, unfortunately, is provide a clear sense of just how big a star Sid Vicious was at the height of his fame. References to albums and concert tours are mostly oblique and left off-screen in order to focus on the characters' personal lives together. That may be primarily a consequence of the film's low budget (it's hard to fill a stadium with screaming concert fans when you can't afford to pay that many extras), and the movie makes an artistic justification for it, but viewers are still left feeling that a big part of Sid's life is missing.

Aside from that small complaint, and possible concerns about factual accuracy, Sid & Nancy is an exuberant look at the height of punk rock, seen through the eyes of two broken misfits at the center of a cultural shockwave they helped create but couldn't control.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray 
For fans addicted to slick Mediabook imports of their favorite flicks, Germany’s Turbine gives us a new two-disc reason to take a look at Alex Cox’s Sid & Nancy. The film and the primary extra features dedicated to the film specifically are pressed on a Region Free BD50 disc. Disc two is another Region Free BD50 disc dedicated to the excellent documentary Sad Vacation: The Last Days of Sid & Nancy. The discs are housed on opposite sides of the Mediabook with 32 pages of new essay material and photos sandwiched in between. The essay is in German, but Google Translate makes it pretty damn easy to read. 

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In a frustrating moment as a collector, I know I have the Criterion Sid & Nancy Blu-ray, I remember buying it, but I’d be damned if I couldn’t find it to compare to this release. I last watched this film just two or three years ago, so my impressions of the restoration are still fairly fresh, and I’d say it appears that Turbine utilized the same master. I never picked up the 2016 disc from StudioCanal, figuring rightly that Criterion would cover it. 

At any rate, this is an excellent transfer giving real life to Rodger Deakins’ cinematography. “Beautifully dirty” is a good way to describe the look and feel of the film. Or as Marty DiBergi alludes to in This is Spinal Tap, Sid & Nancy is a film you can practically smell just from the visuals. Details are crisp and clean without issue, letting you soak in that late ‘70s Punk aesthetic. Clothing and production design details shine nicely without ever appearing too slick or over-produced. Film grain is apparent without being too intrusive, but it’s not being hidden either. It’s a gritty, often ugly-looking film for good reason. Black levels and shadows are nicely rendered with an excellent sense of depth. I would not have been disappointed to see this film get a 4K release, but since I still can not seem to find my other copy anywhere, I’m glad I have this disc for the shelf.

In addition to German, this release from Turbine offers a DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 audio tracks. Again, working from loose memory, these two tracks sound part and parcel to what Criterion had to offer; nothing stands out as different, reworked, or revisionist. As for preference, I think the 5.1 mix is solid, especially for the more crowded and noisy/packed scenes, but I never felt like this film needed that. The 2.0 has always worked well for it and somehow feels more appropriately grungy and authentic to the film. Both tracks have clean dialogue (if you can sift through the heavy accents). Music cues are given their square attention in both tracks, but again, I'd have to leverage the 2.0 as the more impactful there.

On the bonus features front, this is a fine selection of standard features. We get the 2001 commentary carried over with Alex Cox and Andrew Schofield, along with interviews with Cox and Rodger Deakins. Given how close to the chest Criterion keeps their extra features, anything that was exclusive to their Blu-ray hasn’t been ported over. However, the key difference here is that we do get the full feature-length documentary, Sad Vacation. On the Criterion disc that was excerpted down to a mere 14 minutes of 98. So getting that doc in its full form is a great highlight, and it’s the perfect accompaniment to the feature film. 

Blu-ray Disc One

• Audio Commentary featuring Alex Cox and Andrew Schfield
• England’s Glory Making Of (HD 30:22)
• Alex Cox Interview (HD 10:28)
• Roger Deakins Interview (HD 9:06)
• Don Letts Interview (HD 10:11)
• German Trailer
• English Trailer 

Blu-ray Disc Two

• Sad Vacation: The Last Days of Sid and Nancy (HD 1:38:17)

Alex Cox’s Sid & Nancy isn’t an easy film; at times it’s outright horrifying, but there’s also a weirdly entertaining quality to it that makes the film endurable. It’s not a pity/pain parade, but it’s not glossy or polished either. This film doesn’t glorify its subjects as a pair of misfit heroes we should aspire to be. It’s a look at these two incredibly intense personalities whose tragic destiny was likely predetermined. But with Cox’s unwavering approach and the amazing performances from Oldman and Webb, Sid & Nancy stands as one of the best biopics ever. 

With this Blu-ray release from Germany’s Turbine, we have an excellent A/V presentation to enjoy. The film has its own set of informative extras, but this release feels complete thanks to the full 2016 documentary, Sad Vacation, which is essential viewing for those interested in hearing from the people who witnessed the downward slide of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen. If you’ve yet to add the film to your physical media collection, this is a terrific option with three cover options to choose from - Recommended

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