About – A documentary on Oasis and their life up until, August 1996.

From the director Mat Whitecross who brought us The Road to Guantanamo (2006) and Spike Island (2012) comes this very intriguing and satisfying documentary about Oasis. Which follows the band during the early years of them forming up until August 1996.

Supersonic is not a full documentary about the famous Manchester band. It follows the band up until the summer of 1996, which is only 5 years of the band forming. They released two number one albums and selling tours and gigs like no other in them early years. The band carried on until 2009, when ultimately the band split due to the Gallagher brothers falling out. However, Supersonic follows the life of the band members for the best parts of the bands life.

Usually in documentaries we are thrown with facts that we already know. Typically, these are enhanced with visuals that make the audience remember certain information. However, Supersonic pushes the boundaries of the normal codes and conventions of documentary storytelling. We are given home videos, family photos, news reports, newspaper articles, gig footage and even cartoons of the band members. This is something that is new and different but is coming of age to the documentary scene.

We are thrown into the middle of the personal life of the Gallagher brothers, placing them within their childhood home and with friends. We only hear them talking about wanting to form a band at a young age. With Liam having attitude and Noel wanting to become a musician, this was normal behaviour for “90’s Manchester teenage lads.

The most surprising aspect and detail that Supersonic brings is the information about the family life, more so their father. This is a key part of the documentary, which makes us rethink of why Liam (the singer) has such bad attitude towards his brother and other people. This information is powerful, which makes the audience think about judging people even though they’re someone who is well-known/famous. The information is followed by visuals, just like Amy (2015), these are gipping and visually pleasing.
Key information and visuals are key for a documentary like this. However, found footage and key interviews with close friends and family members are the more fundamental to the documentary. Due to the realisation that these men are just ordinary boys doing things that they have passion for.

Lastly, Supersonic has the aspects of something brilliant, if the film carried on into the depths of the band, then we could have received more information on why the band split up and more information on what happened behind closed doors. The wanting more aspect doesn’t work in a documentary, due to the information already available to us online. This doesn’t stop the film being appealing to all Oasis fans and even film lovers. The appealing parts of the documentary is still at large, which any film lovers can appreciate.