PISTOL (2022)

 Never mind the bollocks.

Just made it through PISTOL (2022), Hulu's six-part adaptation of Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones's memoir, LONELY BOY, directed by Danny Boyle of TRAINSPOTTING renown, and as rock biopics go, it's among my favorites. The story of the rise and fall of the Sex Pistols has held me fascinated since it was happening — I first heard them as their disastrous U.S. tour was occurring, so sometime during 1978 — and I was glad to see that the generous 6-hour format allowed for as much of its tapestry as possible. The performances were spot-on, if the actors were all far too attractive to be visually convincing as the people they were portraying (short of starving them and then giving them a steady diet of fistfuls of amphetamines) and with some of them leaning into the legend of the band members' individual characters almost to the point of a live-action cartoon, and from top to bottom the soundtrack is just stellar. 

I fully get that punk is not for everyone, especially not the first wave U.K. flavor, but it spoke to my disenfranchised soul at the time and still resonates with me today, so I heartily recommend it to those who can handle its bleakness. A feel-good story it ain't, and there is no happy ending, other than the fact that all of the original members are still alive. (Remember, Sid Vicious was a replacement for original bassist Glenn Matlock.) RECOMMENDED.