Ticket für ein Jahr

I cannot understand the numptees that have given a low rating to this film - it's quite simply British film making at its best.

What really enhances this for me is the films raw honesty. There's no frills to this and it pictures lower class British life as it is - with a touch of humour too! The cast are (to me) unknown and Chris Beattie who plays the lead role is a cracking actor with a big future I hope.

A movie debut by Geordie legend, Alan Shearer, does not impact on tghe plot line or the viewer enjoyment either.

This is never going to be the best film you ever watch, but I emplore you to obtain a copy and enjoy what I think's a fantastic film!

Cheers, GE

I remember seeing this in the cinema. Gritty British comedy with a definite 90s atmosphere, largely perhaps down to its soundtrack of Shed Seven, The Prodigy and... Gabrielle. Sewell and Garry are two teenage Geordies, with no money and a dream of getting themselves season tickets for their beloved Newcastle United. It's a bit cheap and not very cheerful, but it's still a good laugh, with plenty of daft one liners and it's aged remarkably well. I'd forgotten how bleak it was though. Gerry (Chris Beatie) is from a broken home with an abusive absent father. Skipping school and dreaming up bonkers ways to make money. Pulling scrap out of the Tyne, shoplifting in C&A, robbing houses. He reminds me of Robert Arkins playing Jimmy Rabbitte in The Commitments, but darker. Seriously, for a comedy there's a lot of harsh realities here. The pair keep getting knocked down, literally on some occasions, but there's more than enough heart to lift it up and it really lives up to its title.

Mark Herman's (2000) film, drawn from Jonathan Tullock's novel 'Season Ticket', is set in Newcastle upon Tyne in the late '90s.

It weaves the tale of Gerry (Chris Beattie) and Sewell (Greg McLane) as they struggle to make sense of the deficiencies in their fractured lives and solve their insoluble problems, with football.

Within the framework of the close friendship between these two young men, we join them on a journey around Newcastle which can have only one ultimate destination - St James' Park, the home of the 'Toon', Newcastle United Football Club.

But the route is tortuous and led by the fertile imagination and determination of Gerry, Sewell and the rest of us are drawn along as we get to know the characters who populate their special world.

Gerry's semi-absent father (Tim Healy) terrorises the family between safe houses, beating his mother (Charlie Hardwick) and abusing his sister (Kerry Ann Christiansen) as he goes, while Sewell's grandfather (Roy Hudd) struggles to fill the gap left by his parents who have absconded long ago.

Yet, despite everything that confronts them, they unite together with a single, simple achievable aim in life - season tickets to watch Newcastle play.

This is a great film which - like Mark Herman's earlier films 'Brassed Off' and 'Little Voice' - contains the essential spirit of the region it reflects. What shines through is the indominatable spirit and irrepressible resilience of the young.

As the film closes a final unexpected twist places our two heroes exactly where they have wanted to be all along.

Mark Herman's (2000) film, drawn from Jonathan Tullock's novel 'Season Ticket', is set in Newcastle upon Tyne in the late '90s.

It weaves the tale of Gerry (Chris Beattie) and Sewell (Greg McLane) as they struggle to make sense of the deficiencies in their fractured lives and solve their insoluble problems, with football.

Within the framework of the close friendship between these two young men, we join them on a journey around Newcastle which can have only one ultimate destination - St James' Park, the home of the 'Toon', Newcastle United Football Club.

But the route is tortuous and led by the fertile imagination and determination of Gerry, Sewell and the rest of us are drawn along as we get to know the characters who populate their special world.

Gerry's semi-absent father (Tim Healy) terrorises the family between safe houses, beating his mother (Charlie Hardwick) and abusing his sister (Kerry Ann Christiansen) as he goes, while Sewell's grandfather (Roy Hudd) struggles to fill the gap left by his parents who have absconded long ago.

Yet, despite everything that confronts them, they unite together with a single, simple achievable aim in life - season tickets to watch Newcastle play.

This is a great film which - like Mark Herman's earlier films 'Brassed Off' and 'Little Voice' - contains the essential spirit of the region it reflects. What shines through is the indominatable spirit and irrepressible resilience of the young.

As the film closes a final unexpected twist places our two heroes exactly where they have wanted to be all along.

"You take after your granddad. No words, just dribble and puke." A grandmother tells her teenage daughter's baby "Shearer". Mark Herman's follow-up to his excellent Brassed Off and Little Voice, is a gritty slice of contemporary Geordie life. This Four Film production introduces newcomers Chris Beattie (looks like a miniature Shearer) as Gerry and Greg McLane as unemployed Sewell. They're on a seemingly impossible mission to raise the £1000 for season tickets to see their beloved Newcastle United. While they think up increasingly outlandish money-making schemes - from selling household junk to shoplifting and the odd bit of housebreaking - real life begins to inferere. Gerry's violent and alcoholic father (Tim Healy of Auf Wiedersehn fame putting in a memorable 'orrible performance) forces his way back into his family's life. Like Herman's previous features, Purely Belter is laced with bittersweet comedy and some stunning dialogue ("No Alan [Shearer], not Celine f***ing Dion"), but it somehow lacks the emotional cohesion.