Awarded

DVD Mailorder  |  DVD-5  |  PAL 4:3 & 16:9  |  Stereo  |  Region: free  |  79 min.  |  2005  |  english  |  Subtitles: no

Carol Morley’s highly acclaimed documentary ‘The Alcohol Years’ is a courageous, moving and often funny account of five self-destructive years of her life in early 1980s Manchester.

Almost 20 years after leaving it behind, Carol Morley returned to Manchester, where she had spent several years lost in an alcoholic haze at the centre of the city’s burgeoning musical and cultural scene. From booze-fuelled nights at the city’s legendary Hacienda club to inebriated revelries at New Order’s expense, ‘The Alcohol Years’ is a poetic retrieval of that time, in which Carol’s rediscovered friends and acquaintances recount tales of her drunken and promiscuous behaviour. Carol Morley’s search for her lost self and the conflicting memories and viewpoints of those around her weave in and out, revealing a poignant portrait of the city, its pop culture, the people who lived it and of a young woman who found herself at the centre of a defining moment in Manchester’s cultural history. Among those contributing to Carol’s story are many of the most notable and significant figures from the era, including broadcaster, record company executive and entrepreneur Tony Wilson, author and DJ Dave Haslam, Buzzcocks singer Pete Shelley, Vini Reilly of The Durutti Column, musician, journalist and TV presenter Dick Witts, Jesus And Mary Chain bassist Douglas Hart, and Nico’s former manager Alan Wise.

Director's Commentary

The Alcohol Years | 2000 | 35 mm | 50 mins
A poetic retrieval of the years Morley spent in Manchester in a blur of inebriation.
Everyday Something | 2001 | 35 mm | 14 mins
Narrated by John Peel. A short built around those interlocking private moments that give strange glimpses into everyday life.
Stalin My Neighbour | 2004 | 35 mm | 15 mins
Presents a girl's obsessive journey through local history in an effort to shut out a deeper and darker memory. "Compelling... uproarious... heartbreaking...".

Festivals & Awards

Film Credits

Winner - Best Documentary, Melbourne International Film Festival 2000

Director: Carol Morley
Editor: Maggie Choyce
with: The Durutti Column, Vini Reilly, Pete Shelley, Dave Haslam, Tony Wilson

The Alcohol Years was added to our catalog on Wednesday 30 July, 2008.