Retrospective Film Review

Sid and Nancy (1986) • 35 Years Later

The brief and fiery relationship of Sex Pistols bassist/vocalist Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen.

While Alex Cox’s second feature charts the brief and brilliant trajectory of a punk rock star, there’s little that’s punk about the film in tone or aesthetic. Yes, it can be loud and it can be irreverent, but it’s often quite understated too. Sid and Nancy is more tender than nihilist.

Its reflective, elegiac sense is evident from the first shot, a long-held silent profile of Sid Vicious (Gary Oldman). Slowly some action develops — the police ask him questions, a body is removed from the room, he’s marched away-and even to a viewer with no knowledge of the real Sid Vicious (1957–1979) and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen (1958–1978), it will be obvious these events in New York are an ending. The scene’s laden with despair, a mood that disappears for a while as a long flashback which takes up most of the movie begins, but will slowly creep back. Indeed, the film returns to this opening scene shortly before its conclusion.