A funny thing happened to me while watching the new film Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger. I had been somewhat dreading the assignment, as I often find music documentaries tedious, and in particular did not want to watch two hours of brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher bickering and puffing themselves up. So I trudged into the theater quite skeptical. Before too long, though, a tear came to my eye. And then, to my surprise, I basically couldn’t stop crying for the rest of the film. Not heaving sobs, mind you; but certainly the bittersweet, choked-up mistiness of nostalgia. Maybe this band — which burned fast and bright in the sky 30 years ago — meant more to me than I realized.
The film, from directors Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern, quite successfully shows us that Oasis means a great deal to many people across the world. Don’t Look Back in Anger is part concert film covering the band’s blockbuster 2025 reunion tour, and part backstage reflection on the long, strange trip of it all. Those hoping for some inside dirt on the Gallaghers’ famous feud, or about the mechanics that brought them back together after a 15-year estrangement, will not be satisfied. This is a nice, celebratory, water-under-the-bridge movie; there’s to be no personal nor political interrogation.
