Oasis: Don't Look Back in Anger, the documentary that shows the Gallaghers' reconciliation

The Gallaghers sing. He is credited with a career full of records, fights and, obviously, songs; some of them burned into the depths of what is called collective memory. Let everyone choose theirs. Of course, always starting with Wonderwall, equally capable of opening and closing the Olympic Games and becoming the unofficial anthem for each victory of Harry Keane's England team. Another thing is if they talk. We know, yes, that they talk to each other. And they have been doing it since on August 27, 2024, after 15 years since their separation in 2009, Oasis announced their return with a 14-concert tour for July and August 2025. Then more would come around the world. We know all this because this is how it appeared in our WhatsApp groups, from the most select to those at work and those we thought were already silenced; because Wikipedia says so; because that day we heard Live Forever again, and because it is told in such a detailed and enthusiastic way in the documentary Oasis: Don't Look Back in Anger, directed by experts in the field Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace, scripted and produced by Steven Knight (at the time, and not by chance, responsible for the Peaky Blinders series) and presented this Saturday to the smell and praise of crowds at the Venice Festival. There, on the Lido and with their usual northern condescension, were Noel and Liam Gallagher. They took photos, said hello and things like that... but to talk what they say, they didn't talk. They already do it in the movie.

And "that's what it was about," says Knight in place of the Gallaghers. And he continues: «This is a story of how two people who had become estranged come together again. Nothing else. All we were looking for was as simple as being there with a camera when they first saw each other at rehearsals, being there throughout the concerts and waiting to see what happened until the end. We even hoped that the film would have a happy ending, but we didn't count on it 100% either. And indeed it is. You could say that the film is the exact opposite of many things and, more importantly, many expectations.

Anyone who was a teenager in the 90s and approached any concert that the band offered in Spain in more or less manageable venues that were small (the Riviera of Madrid, for example) will find themselves in this film with football stadiums, the largest of all, full. We don't even talk about the possibility of finding an entrance. Whoever goes to the cinema with the knife between their teeth ready to see another of the magnificent Gallagher fights, the only thing they will see, pay attention, is brotherly love. Always tinged with Liam's disdain, but love nonetheless. "In life you can be whatever you want, but you can't be a bastard to others." Pause. "And if you are, at least take the trouble to be funny." Liam is Liam until they make a movie for him to not be Liam. And one last broken expectation: anyone who wants a good movie should wait. There are apotheosis (and a lot of them) but told in such an exaggeratedly correct and redundant way, that it could be said to have been directed by a notary. A good notary, but a notary nonetheless. It's like that.

To situate ourselves, the film, more than recording the reconciliation (which in its own way too), what it focuses on is the punctual description of the Oasis Live 25 tour from above and below the stage. From one side, song by song, the group reels off their achievements with a renewed and extremely catchy energy. Let's say the credit goes to Oasis, not the movie. From the area closest to the earth, those attending these liturgies of unfathomable and global power tell their impressions, exhibit their sobs and show themselves helpless and, above all, free. The problem is that, in this binary exercise, let's call it that, Oasis. Don't Look Back in Anger shows itself incapable of either moving forward or surprising, always stopped at the exact point of ecstasy.

It is true that things happen. And that's good. Dylan Southern, one of the directors, explains: “The film also ends up talking about the capricious and inexorable way in which music is transmitted from generation to generation. I remember discovering Oasis in an NME photo. I didn't know anything about his music. His attitude captivated me from the first moment. Then I heard a song and later went to see them live in a terraced house converted into a concert hall. Now everything is at your fingertips on the internet and new generations have instantly taken over their music. That was seen in each concert inhabited by at least three different generations and all three capable of singing the songs from the beginning to the end. At his side, Will Lovelace, the other director, continues his reflection from another point of view: «We thought we were making a documentary about a group that we admired and that was coming back. "When Noel and Liam walked out hand in hand in Cardiff and we saw the public's reaction, it was clear to us that something was happening there that, in truth, surpassed all of us."