could never reconcile if the musical numbers should advance the story or illustrate something about the characters at the time. $2.5 million of the film's budget came from Orion and £2.5 million from Goldcrest. Soundtrack Absolute Beginners: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was concurrently released to promote the film, and the musical score was composed by Gil Evans. David Bowie's title track, Ray Davies' "Quiet Life", and the Style Council's "Have You Ever Had It Blue?" were released as singles. Abridged versions of the LP were released featuring only sides one and two, and CD versions excised the tracks "Absolute Beginners (Slight Refrain)," "Landlords and Tenants", "Santa Lucia". and "Cool Napoli". Track listing Charts Reception Critical New York Times film critic Caryn James remarked upon the "unevenness" of Temple's adaptation and its "erratic" results. Pauline Kael declared that the music was "peculiarly unlyrical and ephemeral". Jeremy Allen in The Guardian praised Bowie's theme song but described the film as "an overbudget turkey of huge proportions". Corey K. Creekmur stated in The International Film Musical that the film "failed to deliver on the critical expectations surrounding it", although it remained "a deeply interesting, if flawed, attempt to harness the contemporary musical in the services of politics and social equality". Alex Stewart reviewed Absolute Beginners for White Dwarf #79, and stated that "It's glossy, slick and superficial, with a couple of nods towards Social Significance which stand out almost as awkwardly as the stumps of the subplots that ended up on the cutting-room floor. On the other hand the singing and dancing are quite nice, the climax looks uncannily like Quatermass and the Pit set to music, and the grossly over-hyped Patsy Kensit duly meets a most satisfying nemesis by turning in a performance that would have disgraced an episode of Thunderbirds." Absolute Beginners currently holds a 78% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on nine reviews. Box office Goldcrest Films invested £4,680,000 in the film and received £1,859,000 back, losing £2,821,000. References Notes Sources External links 1986 films 1986 drama films 1980s coming-of-age drama films 1980s musical drama films 1980s teen drama films British coming-of-age drama films British musical drama films British teen drama films 1980s English-language films Films about fashion designers Films about photographers Films directed by Julien Temple Films set in 1958 Films set in London Films shot at Pinewood Studios Films shot in London Films shot in Surrey Golan-Globus