Wham!
Directed by Chris Smith
Running time: 1hr32 | REVIEWED BY CATHERINE BRAY
George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley star in Wham!
I am painting my mother’s toe nails a deep shade of red (Chanel 572, Emblématique). These toenails are over seventy years old. Or are they? Toenails grow, are trimmed, and regrow; the material making up any one single nail is only a few months old. It’s a biological philosopher’s axe conundrum. Are these toenails that I am currently painting seventy-something years old, or not? While I’m thinking about philosopher’s axes and painting the existentially contentious toenails, a film is playing on the television.
The film in question is Wham!, a documentary about the band formed by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley in 1981. The band broke up in 1986. It’s not a film about toenails.
But it is a good hang-out film. Constructed entirely from archive, some of it previously unseen, and laser-focused on the brief period that the band was active, a good part of its pleasure is to be found simply in lolling around in the early ‘80s, enjoying the hair, the outfits, the music, the – how to put this? – dramatic difference in the type of aesthetic that was required of British television presenters at that period in time, compared to now.
But it’s perhaps a particularly good hang-out film for people my age hanging out with their parents. Every time a new caption came up onscreen telling us that the part of the story we were witnessing took place in May 1981 or February 1982 or March 1985, as the case may be, it gave me and my mum the opportunity to say things like, “You weren’t even born then!” Or, “I was in your actual tummy right as this was happening, that’s mad.” Or, “I don’t remember this song at all, that’s what having two children under two will do.” Or, “Ok, I would have been three by now, do you remember this happening?”
There are some films that are not made for chatting and nail polish. I would never advocate that you sit down and give anything less than your full attention to many of the films we’ve covered on this site. But there’s a place for films like this, which can function as highly enjoyable ambient bonding facilitators, prompting easy conversation and a happy night in front of the TV.
WHAM! (2023) Edited by Gregor Lyon
Available to stream now on Netflix
