Pink Floyd The Wall (1982)

Director: Alan Parker

Starring: Bob Geldof, Christine Hargreaves, James Laurenson, Eleanord David, Kevin McKeon, Bob Hoskins, David Bingham, Jenny Wright, Alex McAvoy

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Pink Floyd The Wall. Now The Film.

Plot: Rock singer "Pink" who is sitting in his hotel room in Los Angeles, burnt out from the music business and only able to perform on stage with the help of drugs. Based on the 1979 double album "The Wall" by Pink Floyd, the film begins in Pink's youth where he is crushed by the love of his mother. Several years later he is punished by the teachers in school because he is starting to write poems. Slowly he begins to build a wall around himself to be protected from the world outside. The film shows all this in massive and epic pictures until the very end where he tears down the wall and breaks free.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

No film is going to completely live up to the greatness of their album but this is pretty damn good.  The music is the star but what is visually built around it is fascinating.  The real life images mixed with the wonderfully bizarre animation by Gerald Scarfe are a feast for the eyes without detracting from the music.  It's the kind of thing you can pop in and out of and not feel all that out of place (as long as you're familiar with the songs or at least the general plot).  At 95 minutes it's surprisingly short.  I would have liked for the film makers to have used ever song from the album but I can always put the record on and close my eyes for my own film version.