Review of Sid and Nancy (1986) by James S — 17 Oct 2018

Alex Cox's true life love story between Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen is like a gun shot to the soul. Yes, this is a love story but not about likeable people and I love it when a director can make a riveting, sad, splanchnic , and razor sharp film about the brutality of love, I applaud them. I am a film viewer who does need to have likeable characters. when I view a film I want to experience every type of emotion possible and experience all different sides of life, pleaseant and unpleasant.

Gary Oldman as Sid Vicious and Chloe Webb as Nancy Spungen are incredible, individually and as a duo.

I was recently surprised to read that Gary Oldman was disappointed with his work in Sid and Nancy because this wasn't really the kind of character or story he was interested in playing at the time. Well, Gary, I hate to disagree with you but you are phenomenal as Sid Vicious.

This is not a film for the faint of heart or people who want their movie characters to be two dimensional loveable people stuck in some kind of insipid romcom. This incredible film packs a wallop and reminds us the world is not always a bed of roses, especially for two very self destructive people who happen to fall in love and there is no doubt that this IS a love story ...just not your normal everyday love story.

This movie also has humor and an ending that is horrific and heart wrenching at the same time.

Give this film a chance. view it. Its now available from the Criterion collection. This film is a brutish classic.