This is a film that looks at a sub-culture that’s rooted in
the 1970s and onwards, a sub-culture that reflects in some ways the experiences
of the down-trodden youth of poor backgrounds the world over from a much broader
spectrum of time.
The main character, John McGill, is a young lad who has an
auntie who is a journalist in New York and a father who is an abusive, violent
drunk.
John’s a bright lad with good prospects at school, or at
least he would have if his older brother hadn’t already queered his pitch. It takes a while for him to show his
potential and he manages to stay on the rails for his first 3 years in
secondary school.
There’s a certain inevitability about the beginning of his
decline. He’s rejected by a middle class
family with whom he makes a link and from there gets mixed up with a bad crowd
who act like a plughole to his swirling water.
Time’s spent hanging about doing no good. A little fighting. Some snogging. Low level crime. Vandalism… you can imagine the kind of thing.
The violence escalates and John’s delicately balances psyche
is toppled after a series of events that push him over the edge and he’s forced
to leave home and shack up in a boiler in one of the local tower-blocks.
There are many things to like about this film.
The setting is wonderfully done. I loved the feel of the seventies and felt
that this was about as close to my memory of the time as any modern attempt to
recreate the period. It may have used
some obvious tricks to help create this illusion, but I reckon it’s only the
obvious that would work to such good effect.
The violence is tremendously handled. I wouldn’t usually comment on such things,
but it really works. There’s a
matter-of-fact view of some of it (you’re involved in a big fight or watching
one, it doesn’t have the frills that you often see on the movie screen, and
it’s all hard blows and over in a blur more often than not). There are a few rumbles between rival gangs. There’s a humour to some of it that helps and
there’s the down-right brutal cold feel of serious events. Favourite of mine was a short scene where a
young lad’s being tortured. I don’t want
to spoil it, but can’t help myself. A
rope has 2 bottles attached to each end and is swung around the victims
neck. The rope tightens and eventually
the bottles clatter in to the victim’s head.
And they do it again. It
shouldn’t be funny, but for me it was a comedy moment.
There’s a great sense of place that is created by some fine
filming and great acting. There are some
talented characters here and I think we’ll see more of them in the future.
John McGill reminded me of Ray Winstone in Scum. Hard and deadpan and slightly deranged and
with a very strong presence that makes his descent easily believable.
The plot itself works well.
It does it by the numbers at some points and that’s a shame, but mostly
I enjoyed the steps from A to Z.
A couple of scenes stood out for me as ones I’d have cut out
if I had any sway over it. One in
particular that follows a bout of glue sniffing just took things too far for
me.
All in all, I’d recommend this with some confidence. Lots to like and plenty of entertainment for
your buck.
I’d suggest a double bill with That Sinking Feeling for a
compare and contrast session afterwards.
