• Tweet

Three out of Five Stars
Running time: 92 mins

An immersive, absorbing and crowd-pleasing film of Morrissey’s intimate concert performance, at the Hollywood High School in Los Angeles in 2013, to a small and eager crowd of Morrissey fans.

What’s it all about?
Tickets for Morrissey’s gig at Hollywood High School, a 2000 capacity venue, sold out within 12 seconds of going on sale. This filmed live performance takes you through the entirety of Morrissey’s concert, showing the adoration his fans bestow upon him.

The Good
Director James takes the concert’s intimate venue, fills it with light shows, and shoots from various different camera angles to make Morrissey 25: Live a solid live show music film. Russell’s use of digital cameras and 35mm lenses give the concert a rich cinematic look, and filming from both the point of view of the adoring fans in the audience to a more up close look at Morrissey in action (there are cameras seemingly positioned everywhere) gives an immersive experience.

The high school setting is perfect for the angst filled lyrics of his early days and early songs; particularly as Morrissey explains, before belting out You Have Killed Me, how school life crushed him and stayed with him for years, thus making this song particularly powerful. The passion and hysteria of the audience members bubbles over as they crowd-surf and attempt to crash the stage to be near their hero. Morrissey delivers some exciting moments with impassioned performances of Maladjusted and Irish Blood, English Heart and the sound is superbly translated with both the vocals and the music having a real depth to them.

The Bad
Morrissey insists on passing the microphone down to his adoring fans on numerous occasions, leading to awkward interactions as they shout about how much they love him and how he has changed their lives. The passion of the fans is never in doubt but it is just cringe-inducing to watch these exchanges taking place as Morrissey unashamedly laps up the compliments. Plus, the fan adoration is already covered before and after the concert, including some praise from famous fans too.

Add to this Morrissey’s messiah-like stances and his kneeling before a video installation of cattle being taken off to slaughter during a particularly exaggerated rendition of Meat is Murder, and it’s difficult to take this pretend melodrama in any way seriously. The concert loses energy towards the end as Morrissey quite obviously does so as well, and his continuous need to undo his shirt buttons in an attempt at dramatic staging gets old very quickly.

Worth seeing?
Morrissey devotees should enjoy the hour and a half concert, including four shirt changes, which is admirably captured in Morrissey 25: Live, but there’s nothing here for anyone else.