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Welcome to the deadpan and unsettling world of the Pet Shop Boys as brought to life in their long-forgotten feature film It Couldn’t Happen Here. Directed by former Salvadore Dali collaborator Jack Bond who sadly passed away late last year, it was released in 1988 at the very height of the band’s “imperial phase” and is accordingly glutted with PSB classics.Special mention must also go to some deliciously ripe performances from a very English cast including Gareth Hunt, Joss Ackland and one Barbara Windsor.
The Pets play themselves (and it could be argued Chris Lowe hasn’t broken character since) as they travel through their version of 80s England in this twisty and surprisingly unnerving tale that’s part Pinter, part-end-of-the-pier avant-garde.
But it’s the incredible music throughout -– It’s a Sin, Suburbia, What Have I Done to Deserve This?, Rent, West End Girls and on and on – that makes It Couldn’t Happen Here well worth our time nearly 40 years later.
“There is much to appreciate in this affectionate but unforgiving take on a not too distant world. It’s full of the melancholy that marks out the Pet Shop Boys’ best songs. It’s an outsider’s story with a sense of nostalgic longing for what never was.” EYE FOR FILM
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Beanbag Cinema, 5 Exchange Place,Belfast, United Kingdom
Tickets
