Tales of meteoric rise, inevitable burnout and slow climb back to something resembling normalcy are familiar from the biographies of a thousand haunted artists, but Julien Temple's The Future is Unwritten stands out for its extraordinarily smooth filmmaking, which incorporates clips from contemporary films, photos, Strummer's own artwork, and music from his BBC radio show to good effect.

Emerging out of the "seething LSD orgy" of Swinging Sixties London, Joe Strummer, whose real name was John Mellor, went by Woody and played guitar for the squatter ensemble The 101ers. But when the manager Bernie Rhodes, fond of saying things like "I am punk!", put him in a room with Mick Jones and Paul Simonon to found The Clash, Strummer changed his name and his persona yet again and left all those damn hippies -- and a few good friends -- behind.

Strummer's new band was "anti-war, anti-establishment, and anti-work," and for a while, they burned very bright in the developing punk scene. Sitting by the bonfires that Strummer celebrated as a communal experience, friends and artists try to sum up the power and importance of The Clash, including John Cusack, Flea, Matt Dillon, Jim Jarmusch, Martin Scorsese, Steve Buscemi, Bono, and Johnny Depp in full Jack Sparrow getup.

When things get ugly, the film turns somewhat vague, but perhaps we're better off not knowing who started doing which drugs when, who slept with whose girlfriend first, and when, exactly, the band realized they couldn't carry on anymore. Apparently, it was the success that doomed The Clash; it's difficult to preach against consumerism to a stadium full of people who paid good money to see you. Eventually, Strummer realized that "we made every possible mistake and even invented a few new ones," turning "into the people we were trying to destroy." The punks had become pop stars.

After the heady Clash years, the film slows while Strummer tries to reclaim his life. He takes on bit parts in movies, releases bad albums calculated to get him out of recording contracts, scores films, and eventually disappears in order to find himself. Strummer discovers new vitality in the rave culture of the nineties, realizing that the hippie and punk ethos weren't that different all along, and finally puts together a new touring band, the Mescaleros. The Future is Unwritten is a touching tribute alive with obvious affection for a unique artist.

Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten is scheduled for U.S. release on November 2, 2007.