Iffy

Before I say anything else I should perhaps explain to foreign readers what The Big Issue is . It's a magazine that homeless people sell on street corners in large towns and cities where they're allowed to keep most of the profits . There are criteria that must be followed ( Apart from being homeless of course ) one is that you must be polite to the general public and stone cold sober . It's absolutely disgusting that the sellers of The Big Issue are as common on our streets as red pillar boxes and double decker buses

Anyway I'm digressing . IFFY is the title character of our story who's a practising heroin addict who's just found out he's been taken off his methadone program because of his continual late attendance . So the story revolves around Iffy's day as he stands in a town centre selling The Big Issue and looking for his next hit . What I liked about this short is its fly on the wall realism . As Iffy shout " Big issue , big issue " people walk by him trying to pretend he's not there . In a later sequence he's not selling anything and is asking passers by for money , begging in other words and everything about this sequence is so utterly natural I can't believe these people are extras - They're real members of the public

If this was the entire story I would have been deeply touched by it , however there is a serious spanner in the works where two characters are introduced - A child molester and his silent victim . It's suggested that the young boy is Iffy's son and if so by becoming a heroin addict Iffy has allowed his son to suffer the worst fate imaginable which means he deserves as much sympathy as the perpetrator of these deeds - zero sympathy

Update: Someone pointed out to me that the young boy is Iffy when he was a boy and not his son . Still no excuse for Iffy becoming a junkie though

Iffy is trying to kick his heroin addiction and is on a course of treatment at his local drop in. However the desire is always there and it doesn't take long before he is needing just something to short him out and keep him through the long day of selling the big issue.

How much you take from this short film will depend a bit on your politics because there is a big risk that some viewers will see it as one big excuse for Iffy's drug addiction and a cry for him to get all the state support and benefits that he needs until he can get clean and maybe even become a useful member of society. Some will hate it for this reason while others will be touched by it for the same reason. I'm sort of in both camps in this regard and I can see strengths and weaknesses in the film but still think it is worth seeing. The story behind Iffy is close to being apologetic and an excuse but it isn't fair to attack it for that reason alone because it is only fair to show the formative actions in any character and I don't think the film ever actually used them to excuse or justify his heroin use. It doesn't have a point or a happy ending, it just snapshots one addicts life and, whether or not you want to help him, it is still an engaging story that highlights just how difficult the issue is – how do you help someone who, even when they want to be helped, has to content with every part of their body longing for that hit? In portraying this, Russell Maybe is effectively convincing and works well with Cons' direction and honest script. Not the most cheerful short film then but worth a look because of how honest it is and how it does ask more questions that it would suppose to answer – but it will depend on your politics to some degree.