The story of Nick Cave’s first group, which elevated the dark fury of post-punk to the max.
During The Birthday Party’s first concert in New York, Nick Cave’s tight gold trousers split in the second minute and in the tenth minute the organizers turned off the electricity because of what was happening on stage. This version of Cave—young, thin, and reckless—has not previously been seen on screen. There are several films about the musician and his current legendary status: the drama 20,000 Days on Earth (2014), which Beat Film Festival visitors will recall, and Wings of Desire (1987) and B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West Berlin (2015), which feature Bad Seeds era Cave. The first and most important chapter of his musical biography, which began in Melbourne, where at school he founded a rock group with the idiotic name The Boys Next Door, was long unwritten. This lacuna has been filled by director Ian White, who has made a movie about the turbulent years of the late 1970s and early 1980s when Cave’s first group was renamed The Birthday Party and moved from Australia to England, recording three albums before splitting up.
This cannot be called a success story. The Birthday Party existed in poverty: renting tiny apartments, unable to penetrate the London scene, and living a life of debauchery and addiction. The film gives a clear idea of the dark mood that would become their style thanks to punk montage, monochrome comic inserts, and archive recordings of concerts, which are reminiscent of something between a riot and a sinister ritual. The grainy shots of a yelling, dishevelled Cave give off a furious and dangerous energy. The musician had already begun his rebellious dialogue with God, which would continue for the rest of his life. Look how it started!
The film will be shown in English with Russian subtitles.
Mutiny in Heaven
Director Ian White
Australia, 2023. 98 min. 18+