Goodbye Charlie Bright

Good to see taht British Film is getting out of the 'Lock, Stock' genre, but the film is still centred around East End devlish deeds, drugs, and crime.

The story is about a group of friends, two of them being the most popular and attractive, and one being the negative. The story follows the boy's eventual rise into east end villian society and how his other friend's actions slowly begin to break downhis life, unless drastic action is taken.

The film definately hits the good charts, but it's nothing that could stand upto TRAINSPOTTING or PULP FICTION. Not one for the yanks, but would definately be worth a watch for Brits. Give it a try

***6/10***

Nick Love's sparky début tells the story of two lads growing up on a rough south London housing estate (possibly Thamesmead?). On the brink of a life of petty crime, their close friendship is threatened by the immaturity of one, and the other's lack of commitment to life on the edge, and the film follows the course of their inevitable divergence. The movie's strengths include a lively pace and a capacity to make you feel sympathy for its characters, in spite of their frequently antisocial behaviour. Equally, however, there's not a lot on show here that you won't have seen before, and the ending, which conjures an upbeat note where logically there should be tragedy, lacked (for me, at least) the emotional power I think it was supposed to convey. This isn't a truly great film; but neither is it a movie without promise.

Goodbye Charlie Bright does carry a certain raw energy that makes it sort of fun to watch but do not let that fool you because for me, the film fell marginally short. I think it's great that a British director is making films about British ways of living in locations British people will recognise and Nick Love has clearly been doing something that impresses someone else because he's made a few films since this one. But Goodbye Charlie Bright is a film that will appeal more to those of the certain culture the film focuses on. As someone who lives relatively close to London and as someone who was of these kids' age when the film was respectively produced, I suppose there should be some sort of a connection for me. But, there isn't and this is probably down to the fact I was not of the ilk Love is exposing for his film.

Goodbye Charlie Bright is a film for the Brits and that is enough for it to garner some sort of respect from me. The kids walk around wearing Millwall football club shirts, they talk in the heavy respective accent and their lives unfold in a setting most of us will be familiar with – I can still remember the garages and apartment estate near my old secondary school and the sorts of people you may see hanging around there at certain times. But for me not to feel any sort of connection nor familiarity with these people or locations despite being relatively familiar with them in some sort of way is quite sad. Then again perhaps it's a good thing but there is nothing on offer in terms of nostalgia for someone who has lived through this period in Britain (2001) of these characters respective ages.

Instead, Love gives us a realistic look at life on an estate and introduces us to many-a caricatures of South London urban life. The film is not particularly neo-realistic and thus cannot be considered as a political film nor statement on the ways of living in Britain for those of a certain class. But Love avoids this approach, instead opting for high energy levels, black humour and causality involving the characters. The obvious problem with the film is, I think, the way it tiptoes around the more important issues such as knife and gun culture (until the very end). Instead it has its characters act in a self-promoting manner under a guise of playing chess and getting into mischief made light-hearted and 'fun' when really it's all very, very dangerous and life threatening.

The film is shameless in its attempt to get a quick guffaw and this is announced very early on when a couple of lads run stark nude through the estate, grab a football and then run off for the sanctuary of a hidden bush. Along the way they run past a young woman and the obligatory yells and hollers soon follow. The film has more so gotten across its need for childish humour and an outlandish scene good enough for a quick laugh than it has made an important point on the dangers of the young, bored and unemployed British white male of circa summer 2001. The film also hovers around the necessity to include scenes of partying, partying antics involving girls and the over consumption of alcohol. Again, this is relatively early on and offers nothing to the narrative but does act as a scene establishing who these people are and what they do. The party is a send off for a character going to the Army (Aldershot, not too far from myself) but it is for a character we do not know of, have no connection to and consequently cannot care for. I wonder if the boys at the function care that much either or is it an excuse for loud music, girls and lager?

Then there are the little things that make Goodbye Charlie Bright feel like a missed opportunity. The film's primary source of antagonism early on is in the form of a large black man that the lads steal from. Firstly, it is a shame that it is the role of a black man that must be used for this part and secondly the strand involving this plot of antagonism is developed into something interesting before being stopped dead in its tracks. Then there is the friendship with Jamie Foreman's character Tony which is introduced and developed but not followed through with. There is a little bit of antagonism with a guy who has 'made it' with his pretty wife, big car, house and pool but that comes and goes without much occurring. It was interesting for me to watch out for where the main source of antagonism was going to come from and that ended up being Phil Daniel's character Eddie who is introduced as a knife wielding, womanising racist but is then brought down to Earth with a Falkland's War related back-story although it feels like a loose attempt to throw in some Thatcherism related politics.

As I say, the film retains an 'entertaining' quality that feels real and raw but it doesn't elevate itself to any greatness. The relationship between Bright (Nicholls) and Justin (Manookian) who are probably both playing themselves gets too homo-erotic towards the end with all the rolling around, head patting and frequent use of the name 'the wife' (two girls at the beginning even shout "Queers!" at them) but even so, it cannot hold much of a torch to Love's later work nor to other respective nation's films about this subject matter like Brazil's City of God and France's La Haine.

This was a weird film with 4 ex-Eastenders stars. Watching it felt like I had started watching a soap opera that was already going. There's no discernible beginning, middle or end to it. You just join the characters with the no real insight into them, plenty of plots develop, but the disappear without trace and the end only really resolves some of the plot. I had the feeling that if I tuned in next week to the next episodes or maybe watched a sequel everything else will be sorted out. There was slightly an over emphasis on the drugs scene and certainly excessive swearing. But despite all that it kept me on the edge of my seat throughout, had some good characters & acting. The vicar in Eastenders played the gangster villain brilliantly & convincingly in a role I'd like to see him in again and I'd certainly recommend catching this if it's on.

A low 7/10

Worth a look. As much for being a Brit flick as anything else. Getting slightly away from the cliched Lock, Stock genre, but staying within the rough parts of London, the film looks at Charlie's realisation that his life lacks direction. Unfortunately the film never really gets to grips with the real emotion behind Charlie's development, but there is plenty to keep the younger, (dare I say, hipper), audience watching and giggling, especially if you likes drugs and swearing.

The beauty of the film is that it is not predictable. Without giving anything away, the plot often seems to be heading in an obvious direction before skewing off at a tangent. This is not to say that you will be on the edge of your seats though. The plot does have its dips, and there was a period when I wondered just how much more of the same I would be getting. Not long after, however, the audience was treated to an unexpected and well-played finale.

The acting is great at times, and not so at others, not even Dani Behr brings the cast down (too much), and individual characters such as Francis and Justin were particularly well-acted. I could not decide if the photography was poor deliberately, to fit the mood of the film, or if it just happened that way. Either way, that can be your decision!

Go and have a watch, enjoy an British film, and whatever you do, don't miss the start!