moth >i< Carol Morley of Manchester, England, with unabashed narcissism filmed people talking about her youth. She was blond, slept around, drank too much, had wild friends and big boobs and might even be charismatic. Fascinating. Movie has parental guidance warnings but actually it could let teens live the scene vicariously, from the end viewpoint, so they can do something different with their youth. Morley herself didn't have much parental guidance. Her father killed himself and wasn't around to have any input. She was a wild girl and now teaches film making. She pulled it together.There are friends from my youth that I would love to watch a multi-angled analysis of so I don't have any complaints about the concept of the film. A drunk girl isn't necessarily the person I want to see in this much depth though.

ali f "Some of these comments really display a lack of intellectual understanding, sadly enough." Totally agree. Morley draws ATTENTION to the narcissism of autobiography, and its specific relevance given the nature of who she was at that particular time in her life. I think some of the most interesting aspects of this film are when the interviewees reflexively draw attention to these issues, for example when one of them says (roughly) "i don't know why you'd think people would want to watch this, there are more important things to make documentaries about." and basically says how self indulgent she is. It is an incredibly witty and honest documentary. One of the best ways she forms this picture of herself is by letting everyone else talk and not including herself in the doco.Self-indulgent maybe but I don't think that's the point - it makes for a good story, is an interesting take on the documentary form, and is honest and important to herself. Autobiography is a way of dealing with your own stories - and why is it so bad to openly do that? People get hung up on thinking that if you write about yourself or make films about yourself than you are entirely egotistical - but if you have a story to tell who can tell it better than yourself? I'm digressing... I guess I was really disappointed to see how many people clearly didn't GET this documentary. I found it very inspiring in many ways, but particularly in terms of its honesty and its manipulation of the documentary form.

sterlingblue2003 ###SPOILER FOLLOWS### This woman screwed a lot and drank too much and most likely took too many drugs in the 1980's. ###END###How did I get sucked into watching this film? This is every "man I used to be so bad" story you can get at an AA meeting in any city in the world. Who funded this?I understand, you had fun and you used to be a super cool bad girl. Did we need you to tell us this in a film? Could you not have just bored people at any 12-step meeting rather than putting this on film? Yet, I got sucked into watching this on Sundance. I kept trying to guess when you would hit your bottom. Was it bedding women & men? Was it charging money for sex? Was it a marriage going bad?

beejer311 i studied under carol morley for a semester, and she is one of the most interesting people i ever met. her documentary, the alcohol years, is an exceptional documentary. Her style inspired me, as a film student, to switch from fiction and pursue documentary filmmaking. A documentary can be about yourself, and at the same time be interesting and not look like your full of yourself. The Alcohol Years is as funny as it is touching. A definite must-see.