written by Ethan
The colourful language and wild antics of the Gallagher-led four-piece Oasis perhaps makes for the most expletive-laden documentary I have ever seen. However, swearing and smashing hotel rooms isn’t all that is covered throughout Supersonic. Director Mat Whitecross is joined by key figures involved in the production of the Amy Winehouse documentary, Amy. While not similar in story, the style and professionalism of that documentary crosses over to here. Instead of cataloguing the full history of Oasis, the filmmakers instead opt for the most intense period in the history of the band, their meteoric rise to fame from formation to the main stage at Knebworth.
Lording over the music is the tumultuous relationship between Noel and Liam Gallagher. Whitecross is intent on presenting the most pure version of events without bias from one side clouding the story. Fortunately, he’s successful in his goal. Noel and Liam get almost equal voiceover time, allowing viewers to hear both of their perspectives. Hearing where their two recollections of the same event differs are some of the most interesting moments of the film.
A crucial turning point in the band’s history was their first US show at the Whisky a Go Go. Noel and Liam both recount how the band discovered crystal meth through mistaking it for cocaine. While Liam seems to flippantly disregard the incident as an honest mistake, Noel sees it as a fatal blow band relations saying, “After that night, it was more me and them as opposed to us”.
While the film could not avoid the conflict at the centre of the band, it sidelines the Noel vs Liam feud at important musical moments in the band’s history. Tapes of Noel putting together riffs and chord progressions for songs like Live Forever and Supersonic provide an insight into the most important aspect of Oasis, the music. Even more intimate is the archival footage of Liam recording vocals for the smash hit, Champagne Supernova. It’s moments like this that will remind fans why they fell in love with the band in the first place.
The two hour runtime of this documentary more than adequately covers the five years it focuses on, but with the wealth of archival footage on show here hints that it could have gone on for double that time. The conclusion of the film begs for a sequel and I for one would welcome it. It would have been very easy to make a mess of the messy situation that this film documents, instead the filmmakers never allow the disarray to overrule their storytelling abilities. Supersonic covers every important facet of Oasis in their first five years and goes beyond that to deliver an enthralling view into a band that was doomed from the start.
SuperSonic screened at the British Film Festival
