Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten

Name: Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten
Genre: Documentary
Released: November 2, 2007
Duration: 124 min
Rating: 79

2007

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 21 Ratings

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7.6

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7.6	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 21 Ratings

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Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten

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Movie Details & Credits

IFC Films | Release Date: November 2, 2007 | Unrated

Summary: As the lead singer of The Clash from 1977 onward, Joe Strummer changed people's lives forever. Four years after his death, his influence reaches out around the world, more strongly now than ever before. In The Future Is Unwritten, from British film director Julien Temple, Joe Strummer is revealed not just as a legend or musician, but as aAs the lead singer of The Clash from 1977 onward, Joe Strummer changed people's lives forever. Four years after his death, his influence reaches out around the world, more strongly now than ever before. In The Future Is Unwritten, from British film director Julien Temple, Joe Strummer is revealed not just as a legend or musician, but as a true communicator of our times. Drawing on both a shared punk history and the close personal friendship that developed over the last years of Joe's life, Julien Temple's film is a celebration of Joe Strummer--before, during, and after The Clash. (IFC Films)… Expand

Director: Julien Temple

Genre(s): Documentary

Rating: Unrated

Runtime: 124 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Andrew O'Hehir

The most powerful documentary I've seen all year, and one of the two or three best films ever made about an artist or musician. Read full review

A.O. Scott

The film is much more than a biography of the Clash’s guitarist and lead singer: It’s history, criticism, philosophy and politics, played fast and loud. Read full review

Ty Burr

The triumph of this fond, uncontainable documentary is that it lets you hear that voice again loud and clear. Read full review

Desson Thomson

One artist's moving tribute to another. Read full review

Premiere Glenn Kenny

At its best, it throbs with immediacy, just as Strummer did. Read full review

Jack Mathews

The movie fascinates not so much because of Strummer, whose brooding temperament and flash-and-burn career arc seems pretty routine by rock standards, but because of the way Temple organized and edited the film. Read full review

Ken Fox

Thirty years down the line, not everyone looks as they once did, so even fans will have trouble putting names to aged faces. Newcomers, meanwhile, will feel hopelessly shut out. Read full review

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User Reviews

NikkiIkki

Dec 13, 2007

Wonderful! Just Wonderful!

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keithB.

Dec 7, 2007

I had high expectations from the maker of the Filth and the Fury, a real masterpiece. Julien Temple follows up with another excellent doc but at one point I started to think something's not quite right. Ok, the campfire testimonials was pretty bad. But more than that it was the I had high expectations from the maker of the Filth and the Fury, a real masterpiece. Julien Temple follows up with another excellent doc but at one point I started to think something's not quite right. Ok, the campfire testimonials was pretty bad. But more than that it was the relentlessness of the pacing that didn't work: kind of like watching a train go by, the cars one after another after another. Sorry Julien, I nodded off at one point.… Expand

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AndrewF.

Apr 4, 2008

I'm surprised to see the positive reviews. I felt the film was a sprawling mess that didn't engage. By the end, I was tired of all the nameless faces, poor sound mixing, and the endless montage. My friend who adores Strummer felt he didn't learn anything that any fan would I'm surprised to see the positive reviews. I felt the film was a sprawling mess that didn't engage. By the end, I was tired of all the nameless faces, poor sound mixing, and the endless montage. My friend who adores Strummer felt he didn't learn anything that any fan would already know. Myself, who knows nothing of Strummer, felt drowned in a sea of confusion. We both felt bored.… Expand

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