Vancouver has been known as the “No Fun City” for as long as I’ve lived here. Conservative licensing laws, gentrification, economic reliance on the bridge and tunnel crowd, and the NIMBY generation have all played a part in this.
No Fun City is the first documentary of the struggle against all of these things. The question is: How do independent art and culture in a world class city, grow in the confines of a city hooked into a lifeline of condo developers and city councilors?
Melissa James and Kate Kroll have created a vibrant ode to a city that has the kind of punk rock and independent history that other cities would die for. DOA, Skinny Puppy, the Japandroids, the Sons Of Freedom, Frontline Assembly. All names that got their starts in the trenches of Vancouver culture and went on to pioneer their respective fields.
Anyone who’s been around Vancouver for long enough is bound to get a little misty eyed as the documentary looks into the lives of spaces both great and small that have been stepping stones for so many local musicians. From Richards on Richards and the Cobalt to the Emergency Room, the Church of Pointless Hysteria and the Underwear Farm, No Fun City is a poignant reminder of the fight for the right to party and those who have thrown down for the cause.