It’s All Gone Pete Tong has nothing to do with Pete Tong. The title refers to an English phrase which is used when things aren’t going as they should. I’ve been listening to Techno, House, Trance, etc. for a while now, but I didn’t know anything about DJ Frankie Wilde before I saw this movie. Now I’m glad I got to see it.
It’s All Gone Pete Tong is a bit of a mockumentary of Frankie Wilde’s life. Paul Kaye portrays Wilde as a coke snorting, whiskey drinking superstar DJ living in Ibiza, Spain. Wild’s stuck in a marriage to a beautiful but vacuous model, a growing drug habit and a well intentioned manager that is nonetheless a manager, and not a friend, to the person who has made him rich. Yet his worst problem manifests while he’s on stage, he’s starting to go deaf. Unfortuntaely Frankie completely looses his hearing and he drops further than ever before.
The film does a great job of showcasing Wilde’s growing frustration and fear dropping us directly into his shoes by silencing and or muffling the soundtrack to the world that Wilde is trapped in. Wilde finally breaks free of his demons and starts to get his life back on track, finding a deaf woman that shows him he can still live if he learns how. Wilde gets his groove back for mixing and living and finds himself happier than he’s ever been.
There are some reasonably funny mockumentary moments where a record exec muses that they had to let Frankie go because, with one notable example, the field of music has been dominated by people who could…uh…hear. If you know the DJ scene you’ll recognize some familiar faces giving interviews about Wilde. As expected the soundtrack to the film is great too.