Morrissey 25: Live – review

Morrissey loves icons; watching this film of his show this year at the Hollywood High School in Los Angeles, I found myself thinking he was a mix of Edith Piaf, Matt Monro and the late Tory MP Alan Clark. He is an elegant figure – proud, impassioned, preposterously wounded – wearing snugly fitted shirts hinting at how he has kept his figure. This is further revealed when he removes these shirts and throws them into the crowd. "Intimate" concert documentary films of this sort are gaining in popularity; increasingly, a key shot is that of audience members singing frantically in lip-sync, practically nose-to-nose with their idols. Morrissey keeps his conversation between songs to a minimum, restricted to a wry invitation to flattery, passing the mic into the crowd. A deeply entertaining spectacle.