motion picture DVD - The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson: A Julien Temple Film

'The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson' is a film that confronts our worst nightmares of impending death, confounding expectations and turning them upside down. It tells the extraordinary, yet universal story of legendary musician Wilko Johnson who, diagnosed with incurable pancreatic cancer and given a few months to live, managed to accept his fate with uplifting positivity and defy the death sentence handed down to him.

As the Hollywoood Reporter said, 'Ecstasy has enough sensory texture to nudge us toward the unexpected euphoria Johnson felt after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.' When Johnson announced he was not going to endure the proposed treatment, many anticipated the worst. Instead, Wilko threw himself into the music, a farewell tour and an album with Roger Daltrey that hit number three in the UK charts and he carried on living. And of course that is the twist in this tale. Confounding the odds, Wilko now has the all clear, having now to integrate those enlightened lessons learnt under sentence of death into the unexpected and ongoing future of his life.

The Independent said, 'There is something comical but uplifting in the baffled ecstasy he feels in still being alive'. As bonus features on The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson , included are a watch with Wilko version of the movie which follows every flicker of emotion as the subject of the movie views the finished product Additionally there's footage from the first rehearsal of the band after Wilko's lifesaving operation, plus also the full QA that took place after the film s cinematic premiere at the Picturehouse on Shaftesbury Avenue. There's also an interview with Wilko discussing The Rat a painting that he created which has assumed an emblematic presence in his life. The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson has been received with real acclaim by the critics and it has been shown at film festivals globally. Of Temple himself, The Guardian wrote,'Like Wilko, his films exude an irrepressibly punky joie de vivre. Encore' Uncut described the film as 'inspiring stuf', Variety said,'Johnson's unexpectedly buoyant response to very bad news makes for a film about saying goodbye that is itself void of grief, fear or regret'