No Distance Left to Run: A Film About Blur

This gently inquiring, good-looking doc follows Blur as they reunite for a series of gigs that culminated last summer with moving homecoming jamborees at Glastonbury and Hyde Park. Neither a weak cash-in nor a by-numbers talking-heads fest, the film boasts exceptional live footage and manages to combine the story of the band’s re-formation with a lightning tour of their history, from Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon’s first meeting at an Essex comp in 1980 (Coxon on Albarn: ‘I thought: Gosh, what a show-off’) to Coxon’s departure from the band in 2002 during the recording of ‘Think Tank’ (Coxon: ‘I looked in the mirror and thought: Oh no, this is becoming like “Behind the Music” ’). For a self-produced film, it’s a frank affair, with booze, drugs, ego, fame and the conflict between their appeal to teens and ‘chin-rubbers’ (Coxon’s words) on the agenda. The sour look on Coxon’s face at any mention of ‘Britpop’ is priceless and Albarn is on thoughtful form.