Dancing, Drugs and Deafness - 'It's All Gone Pete Tong'

This weekend I was finally able to see the mock-rock-doc It's All Gone Pete Tong about the hottest DJ in Ibiza who tragically goes deaf.

We see DJ Frankie Wilde at his prime - as a god among the sun and intoxicant drenched denizens of the island, ruling the clubs, giving television interviews, gracing the cover of magazines, his albums going platinum, with all the women, scotch, and coke he could ever want. However, he starts to notice something is wrong. It begins with a buzzing. He then can barely hear anything at all. Following an absolutely awful set, he finally admits there is a problem. By this he is left with only 20% hearing in one ear, which he promptly loses. He then loses his wife, his record deal, and his marbles. After an aborted spectacular attempt to commit suicide (involving a whack of fireworks strapped to his head) following a long period of isolation, Frankie emerges where he battles his demons - the fantastic Coke Badger: a snarling, 6ft tall badger in a fairy costume complete with star-tipped wand who shovels cocaine into Frankie's face and kicks his ass when he dares suggest that their relationship should become more "casual" - the Badger is probably the best bit of the whole film.

(sorry about the pic - it was the best I could find)


He picks himself up, learns how to function in a silent world, falls in love, figures out how to mix without his hearing, and has one last spectacular set before disappearing into obscurity.

This is a highly enjoyable, even touching, film. You can't help but feel for Frankie, even though he in no way, shape or form fits the sympathetic hero role, as he struggles with the realization and implications of his deafness. With small shaky steps he overcomes whatever life throws at him, first by binging on whatever he can get his hands on, then through hard work and perseverance.

The acting is superb, the faux-documentary form (complete with talking heads) is well balanced with scenes shot in a more traditional movie-making way as you would find in a biopic, and it is visually stunning - showing the beauty of Ibiza, the energy of the clublife, and what can perhaps only be called the grotesqueness of the results of Frankie's addictions. Equally funny and dramatic this is a fantastic film