Nick Moran gives it lock, stock and two smoking barrels to recreate the hedonistic Britpop era in Creation Stories. Does his Alan McGee biopic, debuting at the Glasgow Film Festival, succeed? Definitely maybe.
So what’s the story? (Morning glory). The film uses the framing device of an magazine interview to chart the rise (and fall) of Alan McGee and Creation Records during the Nineties.
Ewen Bremner is a whirlwind of energy as McGee and an entertaining narrator to this wild ride. Music fans might be disappointed not to see more of the bands that Creation Records helped become famous, this is 100% McGee’s story and his version of events.
Fans will be delighted to know however that it does feature the moment that changed McGee’s life (his words). The night in King Tut’s in Glasgow when he happened to catch a 20 minute set by a young Mancunian band called Oasis.
The rise of Oasis to become the biggest band in the world meant that Britpop reached its peak in 1996/97. Joining New Labour, lads mags and Trainspotting in defining a moment in UK culture.
It has been 25 years since the release of Trainspotting and its shadow looms large over the film. The camerawork, the editing, the casting of Ewen Bremner and, most obviously, the fingerprints of Irvine Welsh all over the screenplay.
The issue here is that while that film had an assured hand in Danny Boyle, Nick Moran seems so keen to replicate its style that it ends up coming across like a karaoke or cover version.
Just like McGee as the years of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll take their toll, the film ultimately can’t sustain the hectic pace and crashes and burns. Neil Young asked “Is it better to burn out than to fade away?”. Here, a slightly more composed take on proceedings could have sustained the narrative to the end of the album.
Alan McGee made an everlasting impact on British culture. Creation Stories sadly doesn’t make the same impact and is unlikely to live forever in the cinematic zeitgeist
Rating: 
Creation Stories is released on 20th March.
Director: Nick Moran
Stars: Ewen Bremner, Suki Waterhouse, Thomas Turgoose, Jason Isaacs
Runtime: 100 minutes
Country: UK
