Went to the premier last night (thanks for the invite) - overall I have to say it was EXCELLENT - the dancing very good and not-overly reliant on silly acrobatics and the characters well portrayed and convincingly 'us'.
A few minor and rather nuanced criticisms:
The music selection was great, some real benchmark 'proper' Northern Soul sounds, though it DID represent a cross section of sounds spun from the early 70s right through to the early 80s rather than the sounds specifically to be heard around the 1974ish? period portrayed (though this is quite understandable I guess as the film will be serving as a musical introduction for many of the people watching it rather than a historical document) - with a couple simply unknown altogether before Wigan was closed.
My other mild criticism is that there was a fairly overbearing drug presence - whilst obviously it would be foolish to deny their almost universal existence on the scene (especially in years gone by) - they are in my view of secondary importance in that use of uppers is (and I think it'd be fair to say this for most people) 80% about making it easy to stay awake - and the popping of the 'giant' black and whites and strange green and white capsules whether going out or not portrayed in the film (hey guys get your gear right!) was a bit too in yer face - I for one have almost never touched anything when not going out and find being wrecked with nowhere to go positively irritating.
Would have also been nice to have seen more structured portrayal of the weekend life, its fraternity and the 'living for the weekend' cycle - Friday Soul Night/Nighter; Alldayer; Saturday Night Nighter, maybe another alldayer etc... come back to life Tuesday (maybe a soul night Thursday) and start organising the next weekend etc (though I guess for the Rochdale/Bolton/Bury type location local to the epicentre portrayed in the film this was less of an issue than it was for me in the 80s having to travel a gazillion miles to most nighters).
Of course the scene is such a massively complex web of different features, sounds, trends and viewpoints (not to mention something that you can only really understand from within) that a dozen films couldn't capture it properly (and CERTAINLY not for someone on the outside looking in) - and so as a lovingly crafted, brave snapshot of the life I have to say it did do EXTREMELY well.
Dave
PS Was great to see everyone - pity me and Pete couldn't stay for the nighter.