It's All Gone Pete Tong Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		2.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.5

It's All Gone Pete Tong Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 26, 2010

Winner of Best Canadian Feature Film Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, Michael Dowse's "It's All Gone Pete Tong" (2004) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Canadian distributors Alliance. The supplemental features on the disc include an audio commentary with director Michael Dowse and actor Mike Wilmot; collection of deleted and extended scenes; hilarious spoof; and standard making of featurette. In English, with optional English SDH and restricted French subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The deaf DJ - Frankie Wilde

Canadian director Michael Dowse’s It’s All Gone Pete Tong has plenty to say about a culture and lifestyle a lot of people did not get. There is also plenty in it about a type of music a lot of people misunderstood. Drowse shot the film on the beautiful Mediterranean island of Ibiza, which during the late 1990s was a mecca for clubbers from all over the world.

Frankie Wilde (Paul Kaye, Match Point) is the king of Ibiza - he plays the best tunes, in the best clubs, in front of the best crowds. He is a moneymaking machine everyone loves -- his manager (Mike Wilmot) and record label, the local drug dealers, even his wife Sonja (Kate Magowan, Nailing Vienna).

All this love, however, disappears from Frankie’s life when he suddenly becomes deaf. First, his favorite dance club politely kicks him out and then his wife quietly takes off with one of his best friends. But Frankie is so stoned that he does not understand what is going on. The only thing his brain registers is the fact that he has become deaf.

This is when a sex-starved speech therapist named Penelope (Beatriz Batarda, In the Darkness of the Night) enters Frankie’s life and restores order. He gives up the drugs and begins spinning again.

Eventually, Frankie manages to put up a record, which becomes an instant hit. The record sells so well that Frankie is asked to come back to his favorite club. He does and becomes a living legend.

It’s All Gone Pete Tong has the cool edge of Michael Winterbottom’s 24 Hour Party People and great energy of Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting. It is an incredibly funny and at the same time enormously sad film.

Frankie's story is about excess and a strange 'reality' inspired by beautiful music and cheap hard drugs. This may sound like a cool environment to be a part of but it is not, which is exactly why all of the events that lead to Frankie’s dramatic collapse are so fascinating to behold. He is so clueless about the type of life he has been living that for a long period of time after he becomes deaf he keeps on taking drugs to remain sane.

If you have not figured it out by now, let’s make this perfectly clear -- It’s All Gone Pete Tong is a very fine mockumentary. Though the film was inspired by the true story of a famous Czech DJ who lost his hearing after years of spinning, none of the events in it are real, and there was never a deaf superstar DJ named Frankie Wilde living in Ibiza.

The club scene, however, was real. The great DJs -- some real stars such as Tiesto, Paul Van Dyk, and Carl Cox are interviewed throughout the film -- the terrific clubs in Ibiza, the drugs, and all the shady characters that made tons of money polluting the club scene with drugs and all sorts of other junk existed. In fact, most of the venues and famous DJs are still around, though nowadays none of them get as much exposure as they did during the late 1990s and early 2000s. The industry has simply moved on.

It’s All Gone Pete Tong features a fantastic collection of cracking tunes by Ferry Corsten, Deep Dish, The Beta Band, and Reflekt, amongst others. Check out Reflekt and Delline Bass’ Need To Feel Loved (and specifically Adam K & Soha’s mix), which became a massive hit in the United Kingdom in 2004.

*The title of the film stands for a cockney rhyming slang used for "wrong" with the name of the legendary British DJ.

It's All Gone Pete Tong Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Michael Dowse's It's All Gone Pete Tong arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Canadian distributors Alliance.

Alliance's decision to reframe It's All Gone Pete Tong from its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1 to 1.78:1 is extremely disappointing as there are portions of the film that are practically unwatchable. This being said, fine object detail is surprisingly good, clarity decent, and contrast levels consistent. The color scheme is also very pleasing -- the Ibiza footage, in particular, looks wonderful; there are a variety of reds, yellows, blues, greens, browns, and blacks that look fantastic. There are no serious stability issues. Finally, I did not see any serious transfer-specific anomalies to report in our review. All in all, this Blu-ray release is something of a missed opportunity. It's All Gone Pete Tong is a very fine mockumentary but its technical presentation is disappointing. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

It's All Gone Pete Tong Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are three audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English Dolby Digital 5.1, and French Dolby Digital 5.1. For the record, Alliance have provided optional English SDH and French restricted subtitles (only a few of the text announcement in the film are translated into French; the English dialog isn't).

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is relatively strong. While there is a decent range of dynamics, the bass is not as potent as I expected it to be; the rear channels are not overly active either. The dialog, however, is crisp, clean, stable, and exceptionally easy to follow. There are no serious balance issues to report in this review. Lastly, I did not detect any annoying pops, cracks, hiss, or audio dropouts.

It's All Gone Pete Tong Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary - an audio commentary with writer/director Michael Dowse and actor Mike Wilmot, who plays Max Haggar, Frankie Wilde's manager. This is a casual, quite entertaining commentary filled with plenty of technical information about the production history of It's All Gone Pete Tong. In English, not subtitled.

• Additional Clips and Interviews - a collection of deleted and extended scenes from the film. The 'interviews' are also extended scenes with the various characters seen commenting on Frankie Wilde. In English, not subtitled. (14 min, 480/60i).

• Frankie Wilde Guest "Cooking with Jimena" - a hilarious spoof. In English and Spanish, not subtitled. (5 min, 480/60i).

• Making of - a standard featurette with plenty of footage from the shooting of the film in Ibiza, including footage from some of the island's biggest clubs, and comments from various cast and crew members. In English, not subtitled. (40 min, 480/60i).

It's All Gone Pete Tong Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is a very disappointing Blu-ray release. It's All Gone Pete Tong is such a strong film that Alliance should have delivered a loaded with supplemental features Special Edition, not a budget release with the film altered from its original aspect ratio. The best I could do is recommend that you find a way to RENT IT.