1 Day

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Flash (Dylan Duffus) receives a phone call from Angel (Yohance Watson), who's just been released from prison, telling him to re-pay quite a large loan in the next twenty four hours...or there'll be repercussions. So begins a desperate race against time to secure the money and all the while, try to dodge other problems in his life.

I'm glad 1 Day found it's way onto DVD, being as in the city it is filmed, where I live, Birmingham City Council found it in their wisdom to issue a ban on it in cinemas, for the terrifying fear that hordes of black youths may swarm to see it and get converted into gang members. Such petty, pompous over-reaction is what you can expect from the clueless people in power but eventually everything finds it's way into sight. Needless to say, being filmed around my stomping ground, it was fun to spot and pick out landmark locations and see it put on the map cinematically. But that's the most fun I did manage out of it.

At heart a tough, grimy urban thriller, the film also seems to have aspirations of being a musical. People walked out in droves over Sweeney Todd's musical numbers, but I found it more of a problem here. I know this is very much my personal opinion, but I felt the musical interludes ruined it and robbed it of some of it's dynamism, however authentic the harsh, gravelly lyrics and delivery were. It's your typical back-of-the-bus music and made a film already uncomfortably shoving the nastier aspects of black culture in your face harder to stomach. It's got everything right in terms of dialogue and delivery too, with the street slang and patois used by the main characters sounding very real too, but it doesn't make them any more likable or the experience any more enjoyable for anyone from the outside looking in.

The singing aside, 1 Day manages a very real and well realized harsh dose of real life...but if these are the kind of people you don't want to see in real life, it's just one you won't want to watch again. **

The film stereotypes black guys and families particularly West Indian families but I found it funny and enjoyed it. I think it had a good message in there, being a gangster is not all its hyped up to be and has serious life threatening consequences and there is no honour amongst thieves. Am a big hip-hop fan and was feeling the music from the female MC's in the film, not too sure about the male MC's though. The acting was a tad dodgy at times, especially the emotional parts, but overall a solid film with hopefully a positive message, don't do drugs (taking or selling), it ruins lives etc. Some UK media are trying to portray it as a film hyping up violence, drug dealing, gangster life etc, but I saw it for what it is, a film. Am black and my life is nothing like the guys in 1 Day. Watch it, you will either like it or hate it.

The last film from Penny Woolcock I saw was Exodus – a failed attempt to stage the story of Moses in Margate using real people as the majority of the cast. That film only sticks in my mind but the idea was good in terms of the creative process but yet it failed to work when it came to making a film. When I heard about 1 Day, the potential for me to end up saying the same thing seemed high because this is an urban drama thriller which is set in the world of Birmingham gangs, again casting real people without any need for experience acting. Did I mention it was also a musical? Well the action is also punctuated with UK grime scene tracks from the characters. It seemed to me like it may not work but since it was set in Birmingham I was interested to take a look.

The film actually works pretty well as a straight thriller because the plot is essentially a race against time where Flash has to find the missing difference in the money he owes his boss or else get killed – all this while balancing the pressure from his family and his three babymothers. I liked this aspect of it because it did have a good pace to it and it did produce a rather exaggerated world of guns and gangs in a Midlands setting. It isn't the cleverest of scripts or the most thrilling of thrillers but I was reasonably interested in the overall flow of the story. The musical numbers don't really break this up too much and mostly they work – not all of them, but mostly they work. It helps I suppose that I personally like the music, but I can imagine that if you don't then they will only jar. The opening "through the streets" number is good but my personal favourites were the two babymothers (Justice and Lady Leshurr) going together – both had strong voices, impressive speeds and the lyrics were great.

Others here have commented on the "negative presentation" of urban culture and there was added controversy when the film was removed from Birmingham cinemas in fears it would draw an audience from gangs and would produce trouble (even though the two gangs here are as fictional as the streets they represent). These two things gave me pause because in theory this film is no difference from loads of other crime thrillers – they all show crime, so why was 1 Day somehow giving gang culture a "voice" as opposed to just using it as a plot device? Well, the use of real people as actors suggests a documentarian edge. The musical numbers also prevents it being a full-on thriller. Mostly though, setting it in the very real world of Birmingham gangs perhaps suggest that it is giving the gangs an "outlet". I'm not totally sold on this but the film does have this rather unpleasant edge throughout because it is a little irresponsible in terms of content because it doesn't offer much in the way of condemnation while at the same also giving the characters a "voice".

The best example of this is the track in the burger bar: this tracks has the 4 or 5 hoodies berating the (badly-acted and comical) frightened white customers for judging them on their looks and pulling their bags close etc. 3 minutes is given to the characters to make this point even though their actions in the rest of the film suggests that actually this is a perfectly correct assumption to make. It is also a shame that, although I liked the music, so much of it is violent and misogynist in content – which is why I liked the babymothers most perhaps, but it was clever and well used as a track.

Overall 1 Day is not as bad as the score on IMDb currently suggests (3.9?). The basic plot is decent and the film has solid drama and pace to it, while I did also like the music and the way it worked within the film was much better than I expected. It does have a sense of the negative though and the use of "real" people and "real" locations suggest that the film is meant to have an element of "reality" to it but, beyond a humorous family meal and a preachy preacher, the vast majority of this reality is violent and negative. It has a limited appeal but if you are looking for an OK urban UK thriller or like your grime culture then this is actually worth a look.

Criiiiiiiiiiiiinge!!! This is so corny! Hip-hop musical.

Could of potentially been a good film if they never kept breaking out in song lol.

This movie covers the areas that have been missed by other film producers. The idea of using ex-gang members only makes the story more genuine and original. It's really well produced and the storyline is believable and it contradicts stereotypes associated with ex-gang members, as it shows another side to those who want to break free from the Birmingham gang lifestyle.

The soundtrack to the movie is also original and authentic. It sets the mood and elevates the scene, with cast members 'spitting rhymes' from the grime scene, a genre, which originated among such gangs.

Strongly recommend that you go and watch this film, it's an explosion of urban culture.