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The 2016 documentary “Supersonic,” focused on Oasis’ beginnings and incredibly fast rise to superstardom, made no mention of what was then the most salient fact about the Gallagher brothers: that from 2009, they were
no longer on speaking terms. Ten years after that Asif Kapadia-produced doc, the concert film “Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger” — world premiering at the Venice Film Festival —begins by placing the split front and center. After a short montage, which includes actual footage of the infamous Rock en Seine gig where the brothers never even made it to the stage, the film takes us right into the rehearsal room where, in the summer of 2025, the newly reunited band is set to practice together for six weeks. The question of whether sparks will fly between the siblings within this confined space hangs heavily in the air, and nifty editing plays up the anxiety around the project.
But while some tension is palpable, sparks do not fly — or at least, filmmakers Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace (whose previous rock docs include 2010’s Grammy-nominated “No Distance Left to Run,” about Oasis’ old ’90s rivals Blur) do not choose to show them if they do. It is soon clear that “Don’t Look Back in Anger” is far from an unvarnished portrait of an often fraught relationship, let alone a tabloid-style collection of shocking anecdotes.
Although neither Noel nor Liam can help expressing themselves, in new on-camera interviews, in the candid manner that they always have, they remain not just on their best behavior, but also at what feels like a PR-trained remove. Their professional focus — the usually raucous Liam is described by a band member as being uncharacteristically “business” in rehearsals — is in step with a film whose attempts to conceal its obvious financial raison d’etre often feel absurd and tacked-on.
With the two brothers on somewhat guarded form, offering little insight into their own thoughts or emotions throughout this experience, the film dedicates a significant portion of its two-hour runtime to the fans. “Don’t Look Back in Anger” might have benefited from the hindsight of a few more years and constructed a compelling argument about what Oasis meant in 2025, especially in the U.K. The tour seemed the latest and most spectacular sign of a society-wide nostalgia for the 1990s, responding perhaps to a series of national disasters (Brexit, Covid-19, rapidly succeeding prime ministers), and occurring in the middle of a wave of national pride and hope (the soccer) that was itself shoring up against decidedly less positive attitudes (the rise of right-wing politicians and policies).
All this, compared to what Oasis meant at its peak in 1996, would make for a fascinating film that could also enshrine the band’s significance more successfully than yet another montage of newspaper headlines or references to album sales. As it is, the film only briefly and somewhat ironically touches on those world events that might explain why the 2025 tour was such a phenomenon. Over a rapid-fire montage showing footage of Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Keir Starmer, online videos of robots falling over, and other more-or-less severe indignities, Liam declares, “When Oasis split up, everything went to shit.” He continues, “People, more than ever now, they want to escape.”
This idea that Oasis’s music provides a form of escape or release is entirely supported by the plentiful footage of concert-goers included in the film. Shouting out the lyrics like their lives depend on it, clutching at their loved ones, crying, even praying, and often in a state of apparent inebriation, these men and women are a far cry from the dreaded, zombie-like GenZ crowds that have frustrated countless acts in recent years — even though most of the fans seen in the film are under 30.
This enthusiasm could be partly explained by the band’s unexpected reunion, but brief inserts of footage from Oasis’ triumphant shows at Knebworth in 1996 suggest that the Mancunian band engenders a type of fandom of a particularly feverish kind. The film puts it plainly in a sequence showing police security gathered ahead of the first reunion gig, as the chief of police tells the others that fans are expected to have “a herd mentality similar to that of football crowds.”
It seems an odd choice, then, for the film to go in a less visceral and more sentimental direction. The impressive concert footage and appropriately very loud sound design (by “The Zone of Interest” Oscar winner Tarn Willers and James Mather) showcases big chunks of songs at their best, but they are frequently interrupted either by platitudes from the brothers which fans have surely heard before, or by brief tangents centered on fans from around the world. A woman in Brazil has named her dog after guitarist Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs; two female divers in South Korea talk about their friendship and the song “Acquiesce.”
The most awkward if well-meaning inclusion is a survivor of the 2017 Manchester Arena attack which took place during an Ariana Grande concert. The young girl describes struggling with survivor’s guilt at the time, and finding solace in hearing Noel’s iconic ballad “Don’t Look Back in Anger” at a vigil; she is later seen singing along to the song at one of the reunion shows. Such attempts to touch on the highly personal connections people have to Oasis’s music feel clumsy and forced, especially when juxtaposed with the brothers’ rather anonymous comments.
The film’s generally po-faced attitude as a whole seems an odd fit for the Gallaghers. It is difficult to imagine them not responding with a barb of some kind to the footage of an actual sermon. The priest likens the concert crowds to a pilgrimage, and quotes Matthew 18:21 (“Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother?”) before claiming that the people have come not so much for the music as “for the reconciliation between two brothers.” The somewhat bombastic approach of screenwriter and “Peaky Blinders” creator Steven Knight, who created and wrote the doc, has been successful elsewhere, but feels at odds with the band’s ethos here.
These stabs at earnestness do nothing to diminish the feeling of the concert film being little more than a cash grab. Likewise, the repeated point about Oasis’ working-class origins, while true, comes across as another attempt at striking a sentimental chord — in a way that feels anathema to Oasis. In a context where the price of concert tickets today excludes working-class fans from attending shows at all, it feels doubly insincere.
It did not have to be this way. In one throwaway moment in the film, as Liam asks audiences to turn around and lock arms with the people around them, he refers to the people in the cheap seats, before adding, “Actually there are no cheap seats, sorry about that.” No Oasis fan would reproach the band for making a lot of money on their tour; in fact, there is no doubt that they would have cherished the chance to hear the two brothers bragging again together about how rich and successful they are, just like they used to do. “Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger” should be of interest to fans who missed the 2025 tour or are seeking to relive some of its emotion. But its polite treatment of such a momentous event strips it of some of the specificity and intensity that are no doubt behind the band’s continued popularity.
