Das Chaoten-Kaff

Being a Swansea girl originally, I had no trouble in deciphering the accents...

Swansea is indeed an Ugly, Lovely City, and the stark and honest portrayal of life in the dull valleys of south Wales, where unemployment is high, was a piece of script writing and directing genius. The Lewis "twins" were played brilliantly by the Evans brothers, and their honest and forthright portrayal of two youngsters bored with the humdrum life was refreshing and gritty. The human touch in this film was evident from the start, and in many areas it seemed to have an almost Docu Drama type genre, which added to the realism. It is unfair to compare Twin town to Trainspotting, as there are no comparisons to be made, both should be viewed as independant films, and to link them together does the would be viewer no justice. Twin Town has all the elements of a great movie, Comedy, Drama, and in combining these,the viewer cannot help but become attached to the characters. This film made me laugh, gasp and cry.A stroke of Pure Genius.

I enjoyed the film, but can easily see how others might not feel as I did. When I saw the preview, I was immediately interested in the movie -- despite the fact that the preview I saw revealed nothing about the film itself. The most I ever get to learn or hear about Wales is through reading Hollinshed's histories of the middle ages. It was interesting to see a film actually set in a modern Welsh town.

Besides, it was f'ing hilarious.

Danny Boyle is in many ways the British answer to Quentin Tarantino. Despite Boyle not having complete authority over TWIN TOWN, his trademarks are definitely present, and many parts of this film are truly excellent. However, the film as a whole seems to lack true continuity, as it seems to be a loose, simple plot formed by sporadic situations that the writers feel are funny (in many ways they are). Which brings me on to the Tarantino connection - one has to only watch 20 minutes of his films to realise the man is in love with situations - whether they be from circumstance or dialogue. However Quentin is the true master of this kind of film-making. A lesser creator will provide interesting and funny scenes, but with a taste of incompletion left in the mouth.

That said, TWIN TOWN is acted wonderfully, and the Swansea setting makes for some interesting and novel humour. Whereas some of the violence seems a little contrived, it is refreshing to see new kinds of film-making, and moreso to see it grow from the mind of Brits!

Twin Town cannot be mentioned in the same breath as Trainspotting, simply because it is a completely different film, the fact that they are both set in squalid urban surroundings and involve drugs is incidental. Twin Town is basically a sequence of revenge acts between two groups of people linked in all sorts of ways. The Twins to whom the title refers might as well be cardboard cutouts, for the lack of personalities, but you find yourself sympathetic with them despite their debauchery. Likewise the death of the Lewis family (minus the sons) is a very sad moment, despite the fact that they have been portrayed so shallowly. This is the success of the film, the way it manipulates your emotions to leave you genuinely shaken by the violence in the events leading up to the climax, whereas the opening of the film leads you to expect a light-hearted farce. Watching it again it is easy to divide the film into two sections, but very difficult to pin down where the change of pace and mood begins. The humour and irony is superb, particularly the razor sharp sarcasm of Adie. Although a very seedy picture of Wales is presented, this presents a very positive view of the people of Swansea and manages not to be anti-English in the slightest despite the obvious nationalistic feel. The acting is great, and as long as you aren`t expecting anything like Trainspotting and you let the humour wash over you you`ll enjoy this.

It's quite nice to see how good this film is when you think about it. A lot of people don't really know much about Welsh films and to be honest it's because there isn't that many unless there are in welsh language. Before Dougrary Scott starred in Mission Impossible 2 and Ripley's game there was Twin Town and the same goes for Rhys Ifans who stole most of the limelight on Notting Hill as the mad masturbating Welshman Spike but it all started here with Kevin Allen's Twin Town. A hard look at Swansea life through so many different characters who you forget who is who after the first half hour but what a bunch of characters they are. Most of them actually put Wales to shame but with a funny twist of humour and violence. This came hot on the heels of Trainspotting and had a lot to look up to but I think this just as good as Trainspotting. It starts off well enough and keeps going throughout without it letting up for a second till the end credits. Even though there are some ruthless people in this you can't help but fall in love with them especially Terry played by Dougrary Scoot who is just so comic as a hard cop bully who thinks he is the man but is actually very accident prone at most times and that's what makes him great amongst other roles.

This is a so much happening here and we should look at this for what it is which is a feel good film that starts you off straight away and doesn't let you stop till the end credits.