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Simple Minds: Everything Is Possible is a new near-90-minute documentary which charts the band’s rise from their early days in Glasgow, highlighting the rise of unemployment in the ’80s, although this affected the entire country due to (quelle surprise) the mismanagement of everything, due to a Tory government. And while you’d expect a rich pop star like frontman Jim Kerr to be living the high life in Los Angeles, he seems more at home in a library in Govan Hill, set next door to the public baths, because he loved to read books as a child and has happy memories of that place, so he comes across as more down-to-Earth than most.
Told in chapters, Kerr met bandmate-to-be Charlie Burchill on the housing estate in which they both lived, in 1967, amongst new tower blocks, which was still being built when they moved in. And like a lot of this documentary, it’s a brief moment before moving on to a later part in their career, creating the band in 1977 and enjoying playing live, plus their first album, Life In A Day, one of the producers being Mariella Frostrup, whose appearance here was a nice surprise. I remember her first from ITV’s late night programme, Video View, in 1990, before it later changed production from Thames to Carlton in 1993, and was renamed the not-very-catchy The Little Picture Show. Still, she remarks about how everyone in the band fancied her. I still do 🙂
Despite later hearing the early music of Simple Minds, I first came across them in the mid-’80s with Don’t You Forget About Me – a song they very nearly passed on – used in one of the best movies of all time, and a great favourite of mine in my formative years, The Breakfast Club. EEK! Imagine giving that one up!
Its inclusion in this also means we get a bit of chat from the wonderful Molly Ringwald. A shame we didn’t get more of the cast members involved with this.
However, it’s only 90 minutes, and that song leads on to a canter through Live Aid, where Jim Kerr regretted his choice of white trousers on the day instead of thinking more about the important aspect of the day, before we get onto their more political years with Mandela Day and the Street Fighting Years album, which started off great with Belfast Child, but the longer it goes on, the more up itself and less interesting it tends to get.
With additional comments and interjections from Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream), Dave Gahan (Depeche Mode), Irvine Welsh, Bob Geldof and Muriel Grey, this is a brilliant documentary for both casual and die-hard fans of Simple Minds, and with Paramount+ on offer for just £35 for a year’s subscription until January 2nd 2024, it’s well worth the money to watch this and kickstart your viewing.
Thanks to our friends at Paramount+ for the screener prior to release. Also, a big thanks to Simple Minds, themselves, for including me in their tweet, below! That’s awesome! 😀
Simple Minds: Everything Is Possible@ViveLeRock1 8/10 – “A Story of Brotherhood and Friendship”@RecCollMag – “Immensely likeable”@DVDfever – “A brilliant documentary for both casual and die-hard fans of Simple Minds”@uncutmagazine 8/10 pic.twitter.com/Pb22iArBJx
— Simple Minds (@simplemindscom) January 11, 2024
Simple Minds: Everything Is Possible is not available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but is on Paramount+ from tomorrow.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 88 minutes
Release date: December 22nd 2023
Studio: Paramount+
Format: 2.00:1
Director: Joss Crowley
Producers: Joss Crowley, Lesley Douglas, Ian Grenfell, Elaine Hawkes, Stuart Souter
Writer: Joss Crowley
Interviewees:
Jim Kerr
Charlie Burchill
Mariella Frostrup
Molly Ringwald
Trevor Horn
Irvine Welsh
Bob Geldof
Richard Branson
Dave Gahan
Sharleen Spiteri
Bobby Gillespie
James Dean Bradfield
Muriel Gray
Jerry Dammers
Mel Gaynor
Andy Gillespie
Ged Grimes
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.