Movies - It's All Gone Pete Tong

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	Movies - It's All Gone Pete Tong

It's All Gone Pete Tong is a 2004 fictional biopic independent film about Frankie Wilde (Paul Kaye), a DJ who goes completely deaf. The title is Cockney rhyming slang for "it has all gone wrong".

Several famous DJs appear in the film as "talking heads", giving the film a false sense of authenticity. Carl Cox, Tiësto, Sarah Main, Barry Ashworth, Paul van Dyk, Lol Hammond, and Pete Tong appear in the film.

Canadian comedian Mike Wilmot also appears in the film, as Frankie's agent. He won a 2005 Canadian Comedy Award for the role.

The film was released on April 15, 2005. The DVD was released on September 20, 2005. In 2005, it won two awards at the US Comedy Arts Festival for Best Feature and Best Actor (Paul Kaye) and swept the Gen Art Film Festival awards (Grand Jury and Audience). It was filmed on location in Ibiza and shot entirely in HD.

Plot

The film begins showing a dirty, hermit-like man living in a very dirty padded room. The film then cuts back to one year earlier, showing DJ Frankie Wilde at the height of his fame on the party island of Ibiza. With a record contract in hand, he lives an opulent life performing at the hottest nightclubs and living in a gorgeous villa with his trophy wife Sonya. Sonya is a model that starred in his first music video (Rise Again), and they have a son King (product of an affair by another man). Frankie's career is guided by super-agent and egotistical Max Haggar.

Contemporary DJs validate Frankie's mastery of the turntable. Paul van Dyk states, "Frankie was definitely one of the best. He had his very sort-of own style, his very own momentum with the crowd. I don’t think that anyone else did it his way." With fame, we also see him partaking in the traditional rock star lifestyle, complete with alcohol, drugs, and women. Frankie's drug addiction manifests itself, to Frankie, as a giant "Coke Badger".

Frankie begins noticing troubles with his hearing while watching a soccer match. Frankie is working on his next album, which appears to be greatly delayed. Helping him are his "two Austrian mates" Alfonse and Horst, who seem more suited for a metal band. Frankie continues working on his album and playing gigs at clubs, but his hearing begins to degrade rapidly. After a disastrous set of gigs, it's apparent to everyone, except Frankie, that he's going deaf. After playing another terrible set at a club one night, Max confronts Frankie. Frankie agrees to see a doctor, who tells him he's lost hearing in one ear and will lose hearing in the other, unless Frankie stops exposure to everything he loves dearly: loud music and drugs.

During a recording session with his Austrian mates, a guitar is smashed into an amplifier whose volume Frankie has maximized. Trying to listen to the speaker, the feedback knocks Frankie unconscious. The damage has left him permanently deaf. Without his hearing and without completion of the album, Frankie is abandoned by Max and Sonya. In a desperate attempt to regain his hearing, Frankie locks himself up in his house, which he "soundproofs", and ingests only fast food and drugs.

Frankie attempts suicide, only to realize that he wants to live. Frankie meets lip-reading instructor Penelope and learns to read lips. As his ability increases, so does the closeness of their relationship. Over time, Frankie discovers that he can understand music and sounds through sight (viewing digital waveforms) and vibrations (tying speakers to his feet). Frankie mixes an album (Hear No Evil) and delivers it to Max, who, after listening to it, is ecstatic. His joy is only overcome by the newly found knowledge that Frankie is completely deaf.

Max convinces Frankie to play live at Pacha as a comeback for the spurned DJ. Frankie agrees, reluctantly. Frankie proves he can still mix and he's better than ever. After the show, Frankie and Penelope disappear. As the film ends, we see Frankie and Penelope, with baby, walking down a street, unrecognized.

Characters

Primary

Frankie Wilde (Paul Kaye) is the king of DJs, slowly losing his hearing, and soon to lose everything he thinks is important to him: fame, trophy wife, beautiful villa in Ibiza
Penelope (Beatriz Batarda
) is the deaf lip-reading instructor who gives Frankie the tough love he never had and always needed
Sonya (Kate Magowan
) is the supermodel turned wife of Frankie Wilde. Her days are filled with deciding on what theme is more appropriate for their garden: Japanese or Spanish?
Max Haggar (Mike Wilmot) is Frankie's suger-agent. Fat, balding, and brash, Max is all about money and his cell phone is his lifeline.
Jack Stoddart (Neil Maskell) is the ruthless CEO of Motor Records who has no sympathy for Frankie. He says, "I didn’t want a deaf DJ on the label. I didn’t want the company to be touched with the deaf stamp. Well, business is tough and sometimes you have to make awkward decisions and I’ve made harder decisions than dropping the deaf DJ."

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