jim_skreech

Filmed in the industrial east Manchester district of Miles Platting, the tough school culture is very similar to the previous year's Kes. Until the age was raised to 16 in 1974, pupils could leave school at 14, and through economic and social pressure, as well as limited other options, they usually would leave, finding a starter job in one of the local factories, the rest of their learning taking place on the workfloor. We see a Manchester that any 60s revolution passed by - boys schooling was to prepare them for the inevitable life of hard work at the local factories, limited leisure options coming by way of sport and drinking.

We're introduced to Latimer in the lively art class run by Max Fielder, one that engages the boys much more than the others we see, as they're told off and insulted by frustrated elder teachers who'd surely rather be teaching elsewhere. His keenness to stay on after the lesson ends is both an interest in art, and an avoidance the playground, where early on, he's launched into and given a debagging by the other boys. When questioned as to why they single out Latimer, the boys admit later that they don't like Latimer because he looks too long at them in the changing rooms. Following another beating by the school bullies, Latimer is pressured against his will into attending the Christmas party, mainly for the sake of 'joining in'.

That Max and Latimer's sexuality is never confirmed and left ambiguous is a great strength of this play. It can therefore be read both as the difficulty and hostility experienced when growing up gay in an unsympathetic community, a toxic environment fostered by the teachers, but also the culture of working class conformity and peer pressure, the singling out of those who are a bit different, where being artistic or introvert, or just not going with the flow, will have you condemned as 'gay', regardless of your actual sexuality.

Roll on Four O'Clock was initially broadcast in December 1970 as part of ITV's Saturday Night Theatre series, but appears to have gained much of it's reputation as a genuine time capsule of life in a part of Manchester (redeveloped out of all recognition shortly after filming) from a BB2 screening in December 1992. It does not appear to have received an official re-release, but it's from this TV broadcast where you can find the uploads on YouTube.

A slice of Swedish social satire with an cult exploitation feel to it. Stenansiktet (The Stone Face) begins with a gang of striking looking youths - part Clockwork Orange, part Village Of The Damned, part Bay City Rollers - loitering around the neighbourhood, harassing shoppers, residents, drunks, and a man called Harry whilst driving his car. Harry's son lived in the same neighbourhood, and his infant son had died falling from a swing onto the hard concrete surface of the playground, further causing his wife to have a breakdown. Harry sees he can use the youths, the children of the concrete jungle, to swipe back at it's creators.

Much has been written in the last decade of Sweden's 'vulnerable areas' - peripheral neighbourhoods of low socioeconomical status, with largely migrant populations, blighted by gang activity, criminality and religious fundamentialism. Most of these neighbourhoods were constructed as part of the Million Programme in the 1960s to house the large numbers moving from the countryside looking for work, as well as from inner-Stockholm, to the rapidly industrialising cities. The idea was to create planned communities with modern housing and access to services and surely appeared idyllic in the planners office. However, housing largely consisted of monotonous concrete apartment blocks, with bored parents sat watching TV, whilst bored kids with few facilities caused havoc. Those that had the opportunity to leave, did, ultimately leaving a legacy of isolated and segregated low-income neighbourhoods.

And it's the planners of these neighbourhoods which Harry decides to set the kids upon. Filmed in the Stockholm neighbourhood of Skärholmen, we see them catching up with the planners (who naturally live in bigger houses elsewhere) and dealing with them in rather unique ways.

It's a film which should entertain exploitation/cult fans somewhat, the menacing visual appearance of the gang being quite striking, though it feels more relevant as a piece of social documentation. We see the barely finished, but already rapidly crumbling 'idyllic' suburb, the residents moving out and shops closing, also the scarred landscape of the old city of Stockholm as the Norrmalm district was being demolished for modern office blocks. The one time that we do see the youths having rather more wholesome fun is when they're taken out to a country weekend home by Harry and his partner Eva. Maybe those kids were better off with forests and lakes than steps and ramps.

Stenansiktet is in many ways a revenge film, not against the usual street scum, but urban planners. If you ever wished those that created the concrete jungles, and replaced cosy historic streets with dull glass and steel blocks, then this will give a bit of enjoyment.

Directed in 1993 as a short by Julian Henriques who went onto direct the 1998 series Babymother (though not seen his name on further credits since).

Two gunmen burst into the club firing shots and searching for singer Buckey Ranks. Ranks doesn't know why these men are coming for him, but him and us will learn over the coming 26 minutes, through improvised dialogue and musical performances.

Filmed in Peckam, South London, Raggamuffin is an absolute time capsule of a community much changed by gentrification, demolition, and the dispersion of it's then community. It's a neighbourhood usually thought of in terms of crime and poverty, yet we see community of musical talent, supporting and helping each other out, and giving zero tolerance to the gunplay creeping in.