‘Wham! 10 Days in China’ Review: Pop Music History With a Secret Goal

The British duo Wham!, a 1980s pop act equally adept at peppy earworms (the bopping “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”) and swoony ballads (the sax-driven “Careless Whisper”) had, along with their manager Simon Napier-Bell, one grand ambition: to play stadium shows in the United States. And how would they do that? By touring mainland China, of course.

The logic is laid out in “Wham! 10 Days in China,” a zippy and intriguing documentary directed by Mike Christie. And the gambit worked — George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley were able to tour the U.S. in 1985, almost immediately after their brief jaunt in China, which produced a publicity windfall.

Napier-Bell describes the months of negotiations it took to book the concerts in Beijing and Guangzhou. Members of the British tabloid press got to tag along, and in archival footage, Michael is seen shooting homicidal stink-eyes at these fellows every now and then. (One of those journalists, Rick Sky, still seems delighted to play the villain.) An unexpected hurdle for the band was the directive from Chinese authorities that audiences curb their enthusiasm while Michael and Ridgeley were performing. This flummoxed Michael, who prided himself on his ability to move a crowd.

Much of the footage here was shot by the crew of the director Lindsay Anderson, who was hired by Wham!’s team to document the history-making trip. The concert scenes remind the viewer of how Wham! got so big in the first place — Michael was an undeniably phenomenal singer and stage presence.

Wham! 10 Days in China Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes. In theaters.