Dialogues Documentary Film Festival kicked off from Milwaukee film the calendar said it was still summer but there are several different seasons for film critics; The spring festival season, the summer movie season, the fall festival season, and awards season. Not too long ago, the fall festival season used to be the stomping ground of the main Milwaukee Film Festival, Now, Milwaukee Film has kept a foot in both festival seasons with the Dialogues Documentary Film Festival as a complement. Four days of documentary films make it a concentrated punch of film festival goodness.
I slowly waded in with the documentary BOY GEORGE & CULTURE CLUB.
BOY GEORGE & CULTURE CLUB tells the story of the rise and fall of the early 80s sensation through a wealth of archival footage and candid interviews from all four band members who are still with us. And when I say candid interviews, nothing is held back.
One of the things that came to mind watching it was this is a good companion piece to BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY. Both bands featured over the top frontmen who were only just barely plausibly deniable about their sexual leanings. Both bands most popular songs are basically nursery rhyme nonsense. One cemented their legacy at Live Aid, while one damaged themselves by dithering until they were uninvited. One frontman died tragically young, while one survived and apparently was not forgiven. One movie made a billion and the other, the non-whitewashed one, won’t.
But, I’m veering off course here. BOY GEORGE & CULTURE CLUB manages to be both informative and entertaining. With the entertainment provided mainly by the archive clips and the “don’t give a damn about your feelings” attitude of George O’Dowd himself. Not that the other band members don’t contribute a lot, they’re very important in illuminating the inspirations of Culture Club’s music in Reggae, Punk, and New Romanticism. They very much make the case that there’s substance to the music. They also are allowed to make clear their frustrations that they never really received proper credit for their contributions. And their frustration that Boy George’s antics cost them a spotlight at Live Aid. And the fact that they all thought there third album was bad.
Those are the strengths, but it needs to be said that this just plays like a more explicit version of Behind the Music telling a familiar rise and fall story. And basically from 1990 on is just skipped over in preemptory fashion, despite them being a band for much of that time. Yeah, that period is not why people showed up, but it’s part of the story and its absence is missed. Not to mention, there’s certainly a question of whether homophobia undid Culture Club or whether the excesses of success, a bad third album, and oversaturation weren’t major contributing factors.
All that said, BOY GEORGE & CULTURE CLUB is a very entertaining documentary. Culture Club may never have been my favorite band, but I gained a new appreciation. And I think I gained a lot more insight than I would have from a hagiography.
The 2025 Dialogues Documentary Film Festival runs from September 18 to 21, 2026. Further information on the festival, and films that screened can be found at Milwaukee Film’s website.
