Following its acclaimed theatrical run, it’s time to twist and shout and let it all hang out as Bolan’s Shoes – a foot-stomping, heart-wrenching, powerful drama on childhood trauma, family, loneliness and the power of glam-rock – gets its digital release from 101 Films.
Bolans Shoes
Written and directed by Coronation Street star Ian Puleston-Davies and exec-produced by the singer’s son Rolan Bolan, the film stars a cast of revered British acting talent, who have received plaudits galore for their performances. The Arts Desk said ‘Leanne Best creates a poignant and sparky character… Timothy Spall’s Jimmy is a wonder’ and Radio Times commented ‘Spall plays the bearded loner with affecting subtlety, but it's Best's layered performance as a middle-aged woman clinging to decades-old secrets that leaves a lasting impression’.
It’s 1970s Liverpool and T. Rex mania is at its peak. We join a group of over-excited, under privileged kids from a local children’s’ home on a coach on their way to a once-in-a-lifetime trip… a T. Rex concert. But what starts out with exhilaration and the unbridled euphoria of experiencing Marc Bolan’s magic first-hand ends in unimaginable devastation… a road accident that will change their lives forever.
Many years later, we meet two of the children, the Simmons siblings, (Spall and Best) – who, now grown up, have been navigating their lives separately, in completely different worlds.… But on a pilgrimage to London with her best friend, to visit the shrine of her idol Marc Bolan, a chance encounter reunites Penny with her long-lost brother Jimmy. Reconnecting with her struggling sibling, brings back the horror of an experience Penny has tried so desperately to forget. Can the pair rebuild their troubled lives and become a family again?
With a storming soundtrack of T. Rex hits, a healthy dose of humour and the backdrop of vibrant 70s Liverpool and rugged, rural Anglesey, the film balances tragedy and comedy with elan and is a joyful celebration of 1970s culture. It brims with the energy of this vibrant era, but, like Marc Bolan's legacy, its retro glitter is dimmed by tragedy.
Step into Bolan’s Shoes this March for an inspiringly powerful journey of enduring trauma and the life-affirming power of music.
Released on digital 18 March 2024