How Poly Styrene’s Daughter Captured the Punk Trailblazer’s Complicated Life
variety.comPat Saperstein Deputy EditorHow do you make a documentary about your own mother? And how do you tell that story when you grew up in an unstable environment, with a fractured relationship?
That’s the challenge that Celeste Bell faced when crafting “Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché,” a feature-length record of the tumultuous life of her mother, influential early punk rocker Poly Styrene.Poly Styrene blazed onto Britain’s punk rock scene as an angry teenage cyclone, energized by the creativity and freedom of the music while she confronted racism and sexism as a mixed-race Black woman.
But the glory days didn’t last long. After her triumphant entry onto the pop charts, she spent years seeking refuge from fame by joining the Hare Krishna movement while battling mental illness.
Her sudden fame and challenging later years are artfully brought to life in the documentary that opens in selected U.S. theaters this week, co-directed by Bell with documentary veteran Paul Sng.
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