Young Soul Rebels
| Young Soul Rebels | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Isaac Julien |
| Produced by | Nadine Marsh-Edwards |
| Written by |
Isaac Julien Paul Hallam |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Soundtrack featured "young soul rebels" by Mica Paris |
| Cinematography | Nina Kelgren |
| Distributed by | Bfi |
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Release date
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9 August 1991 (UK) 6 December 1991 (U.S.) |
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Running time
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105 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Young Soul Rebels is a critically acclaimed 1991 British film, a coming-of-age/drama written by Derek Saldaan McClintock, Isaac Julien and Paul Hallam, and directed by Julien as his first narrative feature film. The film examines the interaction between youth cultural movements during the late 1970s in the UK — namely skinheads, punks, and soulboys — along with the social, political, and cultural tensions between them. The film was released in the United Kingdom on 9 August 1991, followed by a North American release on 6 December 1991. Young Soul Rebels is also the feature film acting debuts of Sophie Okonedo (a future Academy Award nominee) and Eamonn Walker.
The action centres on several themes firstly a homosexual murder investigation involving one of the central characters (Valentine Nonyela) and his relationship with his girlfriend (Sophie Okonedo).
The second narrative involves a gay punk (Jason Durr) and a soulboy (Mo Sesay) in a relationship, which is the source of the narrative conflict as they face double prejudice of racism and homophobia, in both West Indian and white British communities. Ultimately, The film is a love story that could be seen as an allegory for racial and class unity, as their love transcends class and race barriers.
Set in London in 1977, the plot takes place against the background of the Queen's Silver Jubilee. This is a buddy movie between two friends, Chris and Caz, who run a pirate radio station from a tower block in Dalston, East London. The film starts with a murder of their friend TJ while cruising for sex in the local park at night and, while Caz is cut up by the death of his friend, Chris seems to want to push forward towards a professional career in commercial radio. They both want to promote soul music while the prevailing popular music is punk. Chris meets Tracy at the recording studio and persuades her to get his audition tape heard but he is not ready to sell out his identity to get a job in the mainstream.
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Wikipedia