In the punk England of 1977, three teenagers met humanoid aliens whose mission was to take their virginity at parties or concerts. Inspired by Neil Gaiman’s novel, How to talk to girls at parties gives John Cameron Mitchell (Shortbus) the opportunity to paint an era ruled by unbridled and scruffy anticonformism. With his first featuring film, Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), the American filmmaker had already tried his hand at making a unique musical film. For How to talk to girls at parties, he asked Jamie Stewart (member of the band Xiu Xiu) to compose original songs, co-written by Mitchell himself. Among them, Eat Me Alive stands out, interpreted by comedians Elle Fanning and Alex Shar. Furthermore the filmmaker tried to avoid falling into the trap of a vintage playlist featuring all the greatest punk “hits” of the time. While already existing songs from The Damned and A.C. Newman are indeed featured in the soundtrack, they share the peculiarity of remaining rather confidential. Finally Matmos and Nico Muhly’s experimentations within the film’s sound design are worth pointing out. Mulhy is an artist from the contemporary minimal scene, and acts here as the “voice” of the aliens: through electronic sound of great hypnotic serenity, he accompanies these characters in their initiatory schemes (Requiem). A UFO of a soundtrack. © Nicolas Magenham/Qobuz