Supersonic

They were obnoxious and belligerent, the songs made virtually no sense and they sometimes seemed to be in it as much for the fame as the music – but good God, Oasis in their prime were something to behold. Mat Whitecross’s poignant documentary tracks the band through what Noel Gallagher freely admits were ‘the glory years’: from the first band practices in the basement of the Manchester Boardwalk in 1991 to playing in front of 250,000,000 people at Knebworth just five years later.

Restricting interviews almost exclusively to the band and their immediate inner circle – no celebrity fans, no blithering cultural critics, and it doesn’t even mention that nonsense with Blur – this is a purely personal story about a bunch of guys driven by poverty, boredom and childhood trauma to create something beautiful.

And after all the tabloid-baiting and rotten solo albums, it’s easy to forget just how charismatic Liam and Noel can be. If ‘Supersonic’ captures what it really feels like to play your first gig, to release your first album, to stay up for five days snorting crystal meth then freak out on stage at the Whisky a Go Go, it’s largely down to their articulate, wistful, arrogant, bullshitting and downright hilarious reminiscences. Smartly cutting off before the long decline, this is an epic story, beautifully told.