Inside The Smiths

Inside The Smiths is a compelling documentary debut from director Stephen Petricco, released in the year 2007. The film dives deep into the lives of Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke, two amongst the squad that formed the legendary rock band, The Smiths. The story offers intimate, personal insights into the formation and dissolution of one of the most influential English rock bands of the 1980s. Emphasizing the trials and tribulations that the band members faced while striving for both personal and professional success, the film presents an in-depth exploration of the band's rise to prominence against all odds.

Featuring interviews with other artists such as Craig Gannon and Peter Hook, the film provides a multi-faceted perspective on the monumental legacy of The Smiths. The story unfolds mainly through the lens of Joyce and Rourke, shedding light on their indelible contributions to the band that ultimately went on to be much more than just a musical group. The film gives the audience an opportunity to delve into their truly distinctive journeys marked by shared struggles, dreams, aspirations, and an enduring friendship that has seen it all.

Presenting a rich tapestry of memories, the film's narrative traces the band's trajectory from their inception to their subsequent rise, and eventual dissolution. Variously touching on incidents of professional disputes, the pressure of virality, struggles with management and their eventual split, Inside The Smiths is a candid account of the tumultuous years that ensnared the lives of these rock sensations.

Inside The Smiths carves out a distinctive space for itself in the world of music biographies, rather than presenting a sugar-coated or sensationalized account of the band's journey, it gives voice to the previously untold backstories of Joyce and Rourke. The viewer gets to learn about their lives before The Smiths, how they ended up joining the band, what it was actually like to be part of this iconic group, their relationship with front-man Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr, as well as their life post The Smiths.

Hitching a ride on the bittersweet nostalgia train, the film is packed with archival footage, personal photos, classic songs, and anecdotes from the duo's lives. Reminiscence about the ups and downs in their personal and professional journey, stirs up a myriad of emotions in the viewer, ranging from laughter to melancholy and everything in between.

In one segment, Peter Hook, a co-founder of the post-punk bands Joy Division and New Order, makes a poignant observation on the inevitable dysfunction of bands, cleverly linking the disintegration of The Smiths to the phenomenon of clashing egos in bands that have experienced sublimed stardom. It is such acute insights from peers of the music world that give an extra edge to this documentary.

Where the documentary particularly stands out is in its careful handling of the band's dissolution phase. Without descending into the mire of petty blame games or spiteful drama, the narrative courteously navigates through the difficulties that led to the breakup. It depicts how the end of The Smiths was not merely a rupture in a band but a sizable personal loss for Joyce and Rourke.

Above all, through all the highs and lows, the message that pulses strongly throughout Inside The Smiths is the primacy of their friendship. A binding factor that has held them together through thick and thin, their camaraderie is portrayed as an enduring symbol of their shared past, a testament to their makings of The Smiths.

Inside The Smiths, simultaneously, a poignant narrative and an enthralling chronicle is, at its core, a tribute to a transformative period in music history, a reflection on friendship and an exposition of the trials and triumphs of the men behind the band’s extraordinary legacy. From the point of view of fans or music historians, it is a must-watch, offering a richly-detailed, awe-inspiring glimpse of the world Inside The Smiths. It is, thus, a captivating journey into a kind of behind-the-scenes look that helps us understand and appreciate the phenomena that were The Smiths.