Movie Review - Breaking Glass

1980, Punk was dying and 2 Tone was only just getting established in the Midlands. Music was either the New Wave alternative, Glam Rock , Prog Rock or Disco. And what was Coventry songstress Hazel O'Connor doing with herself. Making this movie, Breaking Glass. It's about a young woman called Kate (apparently named after Kate Bush) trying to break into music from the bottom in the London music scene.

Along with a fairly young Phil Daniels fresh from Quadrophenia who plays her manager Danny are Jonathan Pryce playing their deaf saxaphone player Ken, Ken Campbell playing the pub landlord who hosts the bands early gigs (and consistantly refuses to pay them for any), Mark Wing Davey (better known as Zaphod Beeblebrox) playing the record exec that Phil is helping to artifically create sales for. As far as other musical talent there is Gary Tibbs (If his name isn't familar then you probably aren't a fan of Adam & The Ants) as the bands bass player.

We later learn Breaking Glass is the name of the group (probably stolen from the title of the 1977 Nick Lowe song I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass). The movie is full of the culture at the time, Skinheads fighting, Train Strikes, power cuts, the brief surge in Nazi ideals from certain Skinhead groups, Police abusing their powers and record companies giving out rubbish contracts.

The scene where they meet the German Nuns on Christmas Eve (or is it Christmas Day) is quite surreal and hard not to laugh at. Equally interesting is the performance of "Who Needs It" during a power cut in their gig. The movie does parallel Hazel O'Connors life a fair bit with the rapid rise to fame and the equally rapid descent into drugs and other problems.

Under a new producer their music is taken into a new direction going further out of Dannys control leading to Ken walking out of a recording session & the record execs spreading the seeds of discontent amongst the band but also playing off against Danny as well leading to him eventually quitting. There are also walkouts by the drummer & Ken.

For those who think the makers of this film stole Kates glowing costume idea (which she wear while singing 8th Day) from Tron then think again because this was made a full year before Tron was even released.

Its hard to know if the scene in the tube after she runs out of the gig is some drug induced fantasy but I assume it is due to all the stuff the record company had been injecting her with before the gigs. After that your left seeing what living the hard life has done to her and the very open ending.

A couple of interesting things to look out for are Gary Olsen calling himself Kates groupie at the 1st gig where she meets Danny (He's wearing a Specials T-shirt, another Coventry group) and the motorway sign pointing to Coventry after they sign their gig contract.