If I Should Fall From Grace
The Shane MacGowan Story

A 91-minute Theatrical Feature

This unflinching, music-driven documentary provides the first real insight into the background and career of this legendary Irish artist who, as lead singer and songwriter for the Pogues, became a worldwide punk icon. If I Should Fall From Grace is a portrait of one of the most outrageous figures in the music world today. It demonstrates why, despite years of serious drug and alcohol abuse that have pushed the archetype of rock and roll excess to its outer limit, he is still widely regarded as one of the very finest songwriters of his entire generation.

The film includes contemporary interviews with his family, fellow musicians like Nick Cave, his longtime partner Victoria and direct one-on-one sessions with Shane himself. These are interwoven with performance material stretching back to Shane's earliest work, along with fly-on-the-wall footage from both London and Ireland. We learn how Elvis Costello came to produce the Pogues, and see performance of his famed collaboration with Sinead O'Connor on the beautiful song "Haunted". What emerges is an insightful and unforgettable profile of an artist All Music Guide calls "A transcendent singer/songwriter and two-fisted gutter poet whose notorious drunken behavior, rotten teeth and drug-fueled excesses threatened to eclipse his reputation as a performer". The film's judicious use of archive footage, video clips and live concert material, interspersed with the revealing interview segments, provide the compelling narrative spine of the film.

We follow MacGowan's trajectory from his first foray into London's punk scene with his own band, The Nips (a forced abbreviation of the bands original name, The Nipple Erectors - even then Shane's outrageous sense of humor was evident), through five legendary albums with The Pogues in the 80s. Finally, we're privy to his controversial departure from the band with which he was synonymous, and with which he is now reunited. Both the highs, and the often alarming lows of MacGowan's career are perfectly captured in this film.

A live album and an American tour with the Pogues are now in the works for MacGowan. Irrespective of any future successes he might achieve (the recent sell-out Pogues reunion tour of the UK and Ireland bodes well), his legacy as a songwriter is assured. The abiding testament to his creative genius must surely be A Fairytale Of New York, which, ironically, has become a Christmas anthem.

Celebrated director Jim Sheridan has described this absorbing, accessible documentary as "...a fascinating, moving and powerful film that brilliantly captures a unique Irish genius". Directed by Sarah Share and produced by Larry Masterson, If I Should Fall From Grace was released theatrically by Buena Vista International in Ireland. It is represented in North America by pop twist entertainment, inc.