Directed by Danny Garcia (Looking For Johnny, The Rise and Fall of The Clash) this documentary takes a serious look at the saga of punk’s most notorious couple. With the victim and suspect dead and differing stories from people on the scene, the case was closed without going to trial. Sid had confessed but many say it was in a drug haze and to this day it remains one of music’s great legends and mysteries.

There are no “opinion” interviews here for padding. All of the faces before Garcia’s camera are essential to the story. None of the Sex Pistols are present but their memories of Sid and his fate are available elsewhere. A couple of the New Yorkers paint a nice picture of Nancy describing her as smart and generous. The British however viewed Nancy like a great plague had come to their shores from America. Nancy was a junkie and fed her habit by stripping. Naturally she hung around with the Heartbreakers who were quite upfront about their drug habits and when Johnny and the boys headed for England, Nancy soon followed. Rather than zeroing in on a Heartbreaker this time, she set her sights on a Sex Pistol.

The story has been told many times but this time we get it from people who lived in the Chelsea Hotel with Sid and Nancy. And then we get people discussing the hellish short time Sid spent in and out of prison trying to come to terms with his questionable future. Howie Pyro (D-Generation, The Blessed) went to the party where Sid took his final overdose and is interviewed in the film. “I already knew Danny Garcia and decided I could trust him after I was in the documentary about Johnny Thunders he directed,” he says. Howie had gone to the party with Jerry Only of the Misfits and was one of the people contacted after Sid later overdosed. Howie still seems protective of his fellow bass player. “I still get and see angry ‘opinions’ about Sid mostly. Remember he was 21 and she was 20 and we are still talking about them today,”

Garcia makes a wise choice in featuring the Chelsea itself as a character in his telling of the story. He lets his cast of characters tell the story without making it seem like endless talking heads by including some great archival footage of Sid and Nancy as well as some staged shots with a Sid lookalike. He also makes use of some great music on the soundtrack including the Heartbreakers and Sid himself from his solo New York performances. It’s a harrowing story but this interesting take on the subject is a worthwhile endeavor. It paints a picture not of the punk legends but of two people in over their heads with all the keys to the kingdom. Garcia is fair with both Sid and Nancy and tries to show their vulnerable sides instead of concentrating on the bullet proof cult figures on tee-shirts.