Beautiful People

Beautiful People is an easy watch jet black comedy.Heroin addiction and extreme racism are given an improbable humorous edge in a way that you don't expect. The film has some startling switches in it. My only criticism would be that the scene explaining the psychiatrist's diagnosis of Bosnia Syndrome should have come earlier on to help explain to viewers the odd actions of the actors.

Notwithstanding that it is a great film. Bonus points if you can pick out the scenes that were shot in Liverpool instead of London and watch out for handy hints on how to peg out washing with a head full of heroin !

Cllr Tim O'Kane

This film highlights some of the problems faced by former Yugoslav refugees trying to start a new life in Britain. There are some light hearted moments like when a Serb and a Croat who were neighbours in their former homeland fight with each other and end up next to each other in the hospital (highlighting the basis of the Yugoslav war). Some of the more common refugee problems are also highlighted (you'd have to watch to find out). There is hardly any intensity in the movie but the story is still rather well told.

It is 1993 and England is a changing place. The impending World Cup qualifier with Holland is only going to end badly and immigration is back on the political agenda as refugees arrive from the former Yugoslavia, fleeing the Bosnian War. A group of people move in and around these events and find their lives impacted and ultimately changed by them.

With his incite into the story, Dizdar makes a worthy shot at a sort of Short Cuts ensemble piece that weaves several threads together in a way that ironically touches on the Bosnian war and British society. However, for all the credit it deserves for trying, this isn't a very successful attempt for several reasons. The overall sweep of the story works and it is interesting enough to carry it all along but it is in the specific stories where I wasn't feeling it. The major plot devices are always extreme and they prevented the story flowing and being as natural as I wanted it to be. This also limits the ability of the character to impact on me – something not helped by how many characters and threads there were crammed into less than two hours. I wanted it to be better than it was but these problems did knock it down a bit for me.

The ensemble cast are nearly all good and no fault can be laid at their feet. At the start the characters are basic but they gradually overcome this and produce solid turns despite the limited character development available to them within the material. To pick one or two out would be difficult but the young football hooligan (forget the actors name) does well, while the sadly passed Coleman is always worth a note.

Overall this is an interesting film that aims high but hits a bit lower. The material is engaging and the energy to it almost carries off the excessive and exaggerated plot devices needed to keep it moving. The wide view also limits the impact each character and story has but still just about works. Not brilliant then by any means but a good try from Dizdar and at least it is more interesting and original than the romantic comedies and Lock Stock rip-offs that British cinema was and is churning out.

"Beautiful People" spreads it's story of the effect of the Bosnian conflict on Brits and others thinly over a broad and varied cast of characters with the feel of a documentary in spite of considerable implausibility. Mostly shot in the UK sans any Hollywoodesque appointments, this film weaves several very short and loosely interconnected stories into it's sometimes harsh, sometimes humorous fabric. "Beautiful People" - which are scarce in this austere film - leaves little room for audience empathy but is replete with ironies. The film will play best with those who appreciate British cinema.

Beautiful People deals with some grim & difficult topics – war in Bosnia, drugs, divorce, illegal immigration & more (without giving away any secrets) & uses the currently rather popular device of intertwining story lines to do so, but carries it off with humour & elegance. Such a combination of themes could have been sordid & depressing or worse trite, but in contrast Beautiful People is joyous & exhilarating – a real delight & well worthy of your time.