How to Build a Girl - Film Adaptation
 

Here in the United States, the film adaptation of Caitlin Moran's How to Build a Girl (put the wrong title in the thread name, sorry) began streaming yesterday ($5.99 on Amazon). In addition to a Manics show being a major plot point in the film, the movie is chock full of other Manics references. There are several just in the trailer alone:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7rPlAv1Ceo

Minor spoilers below:

The main character, Johanna, has her musical awakening at a Manics show in Birmingham. The film got the rights to You Love Us. There are actors portraying James, Nicky, and Richey on stage.

There are also multiple photos of the Manics sprinkled throughout the film, song lyrics as dialogue, and another main character - a rock star Johanna falls in love with - speaks at length about his childhood in Blackwood.

The movie itself is cute, and you'd like it if you're into feel-good girl-power coming-of-age stuff.

Doesn’t seem to be available in Canada.
I can’t even watch the youtube trailer - it says: “The uploader has not made this video available in your country”.

How to build a girl is the title, I actually downloaded it the other day based on the actress (beanie? really good actress for drama and comedy). I had zero idea it was manics related, gonna give it a watch

Oh yeah, i remember this being in the works and the book has a good bit about the manics but i didn't know they'd form a major part of the film. Neat. Is that a brief shot of them on stage in the trailer? I'd be very eager to see them portrayed by actors which, correct me if i'm wrong, hasn't been done before. Not sure if their animated portrayal in the much missed monkey dust counts - https://youtu.be/wy4Zqt5Mi-c?t=243

This trailer may work if you're not using a vpn (why aren't you using a vpn! seriously, use a vpn!) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX6jal6-qu0

I asked Caitlin Moran about the Manics once. Knowing she was a fan I went with "what's your fav tune?" She ummed for a second and went: "well it's got to be Faster hasn't it?"

Total ledge. The books are great.

For those who are unaware, here's an interview between Caitlin and, Nicky and Richey:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s9eCPe1w8pI

When I saw her at a book signing in New York in 2015 I told her I was a rare U.S. Manics fan, and her response was to tell me that she "had it on good authority that James was a kind and generous lover."

What an odd response...

Maybe he'd told her to see if she could book them some dates in the US...and the message had been scrambled

Heh... she does seem to wind a lot of people up but that interview with them is quite sweet whereas the tv interview with, say, rhona cameron (i ain't linking to that) is an unmitigated cringefest. I quite like caitlin though, she was an outspoken woman in music journalism so of course she gets heavy criticism from mostly male gobshites.

Oh, and those comments about morrissey aged quite nicely didn't they? They didn't know then how prophetic they'd be and no, he wasn't being ironic, he really was a fascist sympathiser.

Manic references are scant in the film, overall though the film is an entertaining, funny sweet 95 minutes, definitely recommend it.

Another Manics connection; John Niven co-wrote it, who provided lyrics for JDB first album.

Not actually heard of this film until now, with definitely check it out.

This is available to watch on Amazon Prime now. As mentioned, a Manics gig in Digbeth is a key scene in the film.

Enjoyable film, great performance from Paddy Considine as Johanna’s dad.

Plenty of Manics references in there and a discount version of the band in their 1991/92 outfits set in 1993. Is it wrong to point out that you love us closed their gigs rather than opened them?

Ach, just no to someone presenting their own version of themselves on screen. Nothing against Caitlin Moran but just this just felt like 100 odd minutes of someone bigging themselves up.

The self harm bit (not sure if that was also supposed a manics reference..) felt a bit rushed and shoehorned even though it was meant to be the emotional crux of the movie. If I knew if all I had to do was self harm just once, and I'd instantaneously become an expert and get a career out of it handed to me by Emma Thompson, I would have stopped before by arms and wrists resembled a Jackson Pollock painting. It's the equivalent of someone have a couple of pints and becoming the authority on alcoholism. Maybe this movie hit a nerve, possibly...