Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché

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Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché

2021

1h 29m

Documentary

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98%

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57 Reviews

89%

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Fewer than 50 Ratings

Poly Styrene was the first woman of color in the UK to front a successful rock band. She introduced the world to a new sound of rebellion, using her unconventional voice to sing about identity, consumerism, postmodernism, and everything she saw unfolding in late 1970s Britain, with a rare prescience. As the frontwoman of X-Ray Spex, the Anglo-Somali punk musician was also a key inspiration for the riot grrrl and Afropunk movements. But the late punk maverick didn't just leave behind an immense cultural footprint. She was survived by a daughter, Celeste Bell, who became the unwitting guardian of her mother's legacy and her mother's demons. Misogyny, racism, and mental illness plagued Poly's life, while their lasting trauma scarred Celeste's childhood and the pair's relationship. Featuring unseen archive material and rare diary entries narrated by Oscar-nominee Ruth Negga, this documentary follows Celeste as she examines her mother's unopened artistic archive and traverses three continents to better understand Poly the icon and Poly the mother.

Critics Consensus

Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché pays worthy tribute to its trailblazing subject with a documentary that honors her life as engagingly as it chronicles her career.

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Lisa Kennedy

New York Times

More than a journeyman rockumentary, “Poly Styrene” is a thoughtfully finessed filial reckoning: a daughter’s journey toward understanding her mother as a young artist and as a young woman of color.

Feb 3, 2022

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Glenn Kenny

RogerEbert.com

This is not a banal or mundane fake-objective music history doc: it's an almost real-time chronicle of a daughter coming to grips with a mother's legacy.

Rated: 3/4

Feb 2, 2022

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Tim Stegall

Austin Chronicle

Unique and affecting...

Jan 27, 2022

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Greg Carlson

Vague Visages

“‘Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché’ is not a critical deconstruction of X-Ray Spex’s music, but enough time is spent and enough awesome performance footage is included to send newcomers in search of ‘Germfree Adolescents’ (1978) and more.”

Jan 16, 2023

Full Review

Molly Adams

In Review Online

Poly Styrene: I Am A Clich manages to hold true to its overlapping perceptions of its subject, maintaining a well-balanced tension between the two that makes for fascinating viewing.

Feb 25, 2022

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Martha K. Baker

KDHX (St. Louis)

If you know squat about punk music, if you've never heard of Poly Styrene, this biography holds little appeal beyond idle curiosity. If, however, the singer spoke loudly to your life as her fan, the film satisfies idol curiosity.

Feb 18, 2022

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john m

One of the more meditative documentaries on a musician I've seen. This isn't really a history on doc on Poly, although it does incorporate a lot of great old footage of performances of hers, but is a journal of her daughter coming to terms of what it meant to have her life affected by what she grew up with. The result is seriously beautiful and emotional, with absolutely breathtaking shots reminiscent of Terrence Malick. One of the more underrated gems of last year.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Celeste Bell

Director

Paul Sng

Director

Ruth Negga

Voice of Poly Styrene

Thurston Moore

Actor

Kathleen Hanna

Actor

Vivienne Westwood

Actor

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Synopsis

Poly Styrene was the first woman of color in the UK to front a successful rock band. She introduced the world to a new sound of rebellion, using her unconventional voice to sing about identity, consumerism, postmodernism, and everything she saw unfolding in late 1970s Britain, with a rare prescience. As the frontwoman of X-Ray Spex, the Anglo-Somali punk musician was also a key inspiration for the riot grrrl and Afropunk movements. But the late punk maverick didn't just leave behind an immense cultural footprint. She was survived by a daughter, Celeste Bell, who became the unwitting guardian of her mother's legacy and her mother's demons. Misogyny, racism, and mental illness plagued Poly's life, while their lasting trauma scarred Celeste's childhood and the pair's relationship. Featuring unseen archive material and rare diary entries narrated by Oscar-nominee Ruth Negga, this documentary follows Celeste as she examines her mother's unopened artistic archive and traverses three continents to better understand Poly the icon and Poly the mother.

Director: Celeste Bell, Paul Sng
Producer: Rebecca Mark-Lawson, Daria Nitsche, Matthew Silverman
Screenwriter: Celeste Bell, Zoë Howe
Production Co: Velvet Joy Productions, Generation Indigo Films, Tyke Films, Polydoc Films
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Runtime: 1h 29m

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