My Generation (2017)

Directed by: David Batty | 85 minutes | documentary | Starring: David Bailey, Michael Caine, Joan Collins, Roger Daltrey, Dudley Edwards, Marianne Faithfull, Barbara Hulanicki, Lulu, Paul McCartney, Terry O’Neill, David Puttnam, Mary Quant, Sandie Shaw, Penelope Tree, Twiggy

The 1960s still have a magnetic pull, especially on those who were there at the time: the baby boomer generation. Those baby boomers can therefore have fun with ‘My Generation’, a British documentary in which every cliché about the 60s is confirmed ad nauseam.

‘My Generation’ consists for the most part of archive footage, with commentary from the heroes of yesteryear. We hear model Twiggy, Beatle Paul Mcartney, mini skirt Mary Quant and hairdresser Vidal Sassoon. We also see and hear actor Michael Caine, who looks back from 2017 on the 60s and how his own career got underway.

The commentary of the heroes of the time is a succession of jubilant clichés. About opposing previous generations, about young people who are in charge, about new clothes and newer hairstyles, in short, the stories that each generation tells itself. Caine’s lyrics were written by Ian La Frenais (Jan. 1937) and Dick Clement (Sept. 1937) and consist mainly of old-fashioned anecdotes that only do well at a family party.

A bigger problem than the clichés is the lack of focus. The 1960s are too comprehensive to be captured in an 85-minute documentary, so you expect some sort of zooming in on a specific subject or overarching theme. ‘My Generation’ skips randomly between themes – the emancipation of the working class, London as the cultural center of the world, America as an influence – without depth and without surprising insights.

What ‘My Generation’ does have is good music and nice archive footage. The funny Twiggy, the very young and stunning Joanne Lumley, Marianne Faithfull as a hazy hippie girl. And older Englishmen who seem to come straight out of Monty Python. Very occasionally we feel the excitement of the moment, much more often we see a young generation living its normal youthful life.

Those who want to get to know the sixties better, including the darker sides of racism, war and sexual intolerance, should go to one of the series that partly take place in that period, such as “Mad Men” or even “The Crown”. ‘My Generation’ seems mainly intended for the generation that is being portrayed here for the umpteenth time as the generation with which all good things in the world began and will end. An illusion that we wholeheartedly wish the baby boomers.