Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf July 18, 2022

“Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché” is a documentary about the punk rock singer, but it’s more interested in the subject’s relationship with her daughter, Celeste Bell. After the 2011 death of Poly Styrene, Bell was left with memories and boxes of media to sort through, giving herself five years of distance before she began going through her parent’s belongings. What she found in these boxes wasn’t just photos and recordings, but a window to another human being she never really knew, offered a tour of Poly Styrene’s career and personal experience. “I Am a Cliché” follows Bell on a journey of discovery, joining co-director Paul Sng as she tracks the life and times of her loved one, reinforcing her position in music history and identifying the fragility of her mind, forced to battle through mental illness while keeping up appearances for fans and the music industry.

Bell is the guide through “I Am A Cliché,” using a decent amount of film, video, photo, and music evidence to create an understanding of the subject, who came into the world as Marianne Elliot. She was a multiracial girl growing up in England during a time of unrest, exposing her to the cruelties of others, but also the volatility of the era, which fueled musical dreams. With the band X-Ray Spex, Poly Styrene was born, giving the teenager a powerful voice to explore a strange dystopian future, using her lyrics to challenge ideas. “I Am A Cliché” examines this charged time with care, identifying media excitement (and painful scrutiny) over Poly Styrene and the personal fracture taking shape within Marianne, with an undiagnosed case of bipolar disorder causing tremendous distress, complicating an already hectic life she was trying to distance herself from.

Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.78:1 aspect ratio) presentation secures a decent amount detail during the documentary, capturing facial surfaces on Celeste Bell and skin particulars on photographs and some pieces of film. Fashion and elements of religion offer brighter primaries, and Bell's tours of neighborhoods and nature offer a crisp understanding of hues. Delineation is satisfactory. Some mild banding and blockiness are detected.

Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix offers a sharp understanding of Bell's narration and select interviews. Period conversations and media clips are nicely cleaned- up, retaining intelligibility. While scoring cues support the dramatic intent of the feature, song clips from Poly Styrene lack authority one expects from the genre. Clarity is present, but the largely frontal track doesn't share much power with the subject's music, which may very well be a creative choice, but an odd one.

Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Select-Scene Commentary features co-director Paul Sng and Celeste Bell.

• Q&A (26:04, HD) is a video conference interview with producer Matthew Silverman, and co-directors Paul Sng and Celeste Bell.

• "MO on Poly Styrene" (:50, HD) is a brief appreciation piece.

• And a Trailer (2:12, HD) is included.

Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"I Am A Cliché" gets into the darkness of Poly Styrene's career, but also the excitement she felt with musical expression, which has led to influence over many female performers, carrying on her legacy. Bell enters the story when Marianne is 24 years old and perhaps unsure about parenthood, and the documentary slowly transforms into a study of their relationship, which was challenged by mental health issues and Poly Styrene's commitment to the Hare Krishna movement. Their time as mother and daughter was broken up into a stretches of psychological clarity, but Bell hopes to rebuild their relationship with the movie, identifying the difficulty of the subject's life, which found her withdrawing from public view, no longer connected to the spirit that fueled her early work. "I Am a Cliché" is insightful, especially for those unfamiliar with Poly Styrene, as Sng and Bell deliver an interesting overview of career achievements. The music and stage presence remains, but the picture also gets under the skin, looking to reveal the brittleness of Marianne, who faced so much during her days, building up confidence with the help of punk rock and writing, with this artistic release playing a powerful role in her life.