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There is something wonderfully fitting about a film asking what Pulp could possibly do for an encore when the band has already spent decades proving that they were never particularly interested in following the conventional path to success. Pulp: What Do You Do for an Encore? is part concert film, part personal history lesson and part affectionate scrapbook, bringing together the band’s remarkable journey with the exhilarating energy of their recent return to the stage.
Directed by Garth Jennings and narrated by frontman Jarvis Cocker, the documentary looks back at Pulp’s origins in Sheffield, their years of struggling for recognition and their eventual emergence as one of the defining British bands of the 1990s. It also places their latest chapter into perspective, following their return after 24 years with the album More and the subsequent tour.
What makes the film particularly engaging is that it doesn’t simply attempt to run through Pulp’s greatest hits. Instead, it feels like Cocker is opening up an old box of memories and inviting us to rummage through it with him. Old photographs, memorabilia, interviews and archival footage provide an intimate window into the band’s past, while Cocker’s narration gives the film a wonderfully personal voice.
Cocker has always been one of the most distinctive personalities in British music, and that personality is arguably the film’s secret weapon. His dry humour, self-awareness and ability to look back at his younger self with both affection and amusement make the documentary feel considerably more personal than a conventional music retrospective.
There is also something genuinely touching about seeing the ambitions of a young Cocker juxtaposed with the reality of the artist he eventually became. The film explores his teenage dreams of forming Pulp and the long period when success seemed almost impossible, before eventually arriving at the band’s explosion into the cultural mainstream during the Britpop era.
That history gives the concert footage an added emotional weight. These aren’t simply performances from a successful band revisiting their catalogue. They are performances from musicians who have lived through the entire journey and are now able to look back at songs that once represented uncertainty, frustration, ambition and youthful rebellion from an entirely different perspective.
And when the music kicks in, the film really comes alive.
With around twenty songs incorporated into the documentary, What Do You Do for an Encore? gives audiences plenty of opportunities to experience Pulp in their element. Tracks such as “Babies,” “Disco 2000,” “Sorted for E’s & Wizz” and “Common People” remind us why the band’s music has remained so enduring, while the newer material demonstrates that their return isn’t simply an exercise in nostalgia.
The documentary is also surprisingly reflective. Beneath the humour and spectacle is a story about ageing, ambition, identity and the strange experience of watching your younger dreams become reality. There is an inherent melancholy in revisiting the past, but the film never becomes weighed down by it. Instead, it embraces the idea that getting older doesn’t necessarily mean abandoning the person you once wanted to become.
At its heart, Pulp: What Do You Do for an Encore? is a celebration of persistence. Pulp didn’t become cultural icons overnight, and the documentary takes genuine pleasure in exploring the years of uncertainty that came before the fame.
For longtime fans, it offers a nostalgic return to the world of Pulp while providing plenty of fresh material and perspective. For newcomers, it works surprisingly well as an introduction to the band’s history, their music and the eccentric brilliance of Jarvis Cocker.
PULP: WHAT DO YOU DO FOR AN ENCORE? WILL BE AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY ON MUBI GLOBALLY ON 25 SEPTEMBER 2026
- Email: neill@outloudculture.com
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