Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry

The film, set in 1999, is a version of a novel from the seventies about a young man from Hammersmith's London Irish Community, Christy Malry who decides to live his life according to the principles of double entry bookkeeping. For every debit he exacts a credit or recompense. This starts as means to avenge dismissive or rude workmates but evolves into being against society, the more credit owed to him the more extreme his means become. This is against a backdrop of news of America and Britain bombing Iraq. Eventually Christy starts making the news.

In a parallel plot we see the life of the monk, Pacioli who invented double entry bookkeeping in renaissance Italy (we are witnessing the birth of capitalism as we know it) and his dealings with his patrons and Leonardo Da Vinci. It illustrates the death of the old system of religious patronage and new system where everything (including loyalty) has a price.

This is an unusual, intensely gripping story, superbly acted by the entire cast, although Nick Moran as Christy and Shirley-Anne Field as his cancer-ridden mother deserve a particular mention. The unsettling atmosphere is supplied through the superb direction of Paul Tickell and an evocative score by Luke Haines.

A world-beating independent film to go and see. Ten out of ten.

This movie is one of the best. If it ever gets released on video, it possibly could be the film that helps Nick Moran get past Lock, Stock. What I mean is, perhaps everyone will stop refering to him as "That Guy From Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels." Lock stock was a great film but it was four years ago...time to progress PEOPLE! Anyway, Christie Malry is a good film that everyone should see.

Before it was picked up by ILC Pictures (handlers of Urban Ghost Story, among others) Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry caused a minor furore on the film circuit. Most distributors turned it down, prompting leading man Nick Moran to dash off missives to all and sundry, pleading for its release.

It's easy to see why they were nervous: as with his debut feature, Dublin-based outlaw yarn Crush Proof, director Paul Tickell would rather chew off his own leg than compromise his vision. As Moran says (with more than a hint of past grievances), "Malry... isn't some Mockney film, or romantic comedy." In this visually audacious, updated adaptation of the short novel by cult writer BS Johnson (who committed suicide in 1975), Moran plays the eponymous, none-too-gifted nerd, waging war on his enemies - real and imagined - using a simple, if highly effective credit and debit system.

Before the first hour's up, callous bosses, and others (including the Inland Revenue, the newsagent who sold his cancerous mother her cigarettes, Ben Elton and Oasis) have been duly filed away in the 'debit' bracket, and 'credited' with anything from a bomb through the window, to mass murder via the nation's water supply. (Media terrorist Chris Morris is a 'credit'.) Though shot well before 11 September 2001, Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry is bizarrely prophetic in places too - with its scenes of terrorism, governmental panic, and planes over the Middle East (direct results of Malry's extra curricular activities). By the time "God" has been singled out for more than a Chinese burn, Malry's fate is a foregone conclusion.

Interwoven throughout is a joint storyline - set in the 15th century and concerning Leonardo Da Vinci and the Franciscan monk who originally dreamt up the Double Entry system - though this works less effectively.

Following up a true original like Crush Proof wasn't going to be easy, but Tickell has just about pulled it off. Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry is a demented hybrid of Billy Liar and twisted Nietzschean excess, and every frame crackles with energy. The film is further enhanced by a terrific soundtrack by Auteurs frontman Luke Haines. Just don't expect to enjoy your hotdog.

With a limited budget and resources, Paul Tickell has done a fantastic job of bringing Johnson's unique perspective to the screen. Nick Moran does well at playing a character that is almost a cipher but has a darkness within him that no-one detects until it's far too late. References to Princess Diana and attacks on Iraq bring the tale right up to date and, frustrating as it was, I can see why this was pulled from its original mid-September release date.

Luke Haines is a God.

I see it in a festival in Athens.Brilliant English film!Hard to explain!What can i say??You M-U-S-T see this film!I can't write very good English,so i can't write a lot of the plot of the film.Go see it and you will see something you will remember a long time!