Obey

I really enjoyed this. Had no expectations and it delivered a reasonably realistic portrayal of street life in 2011. Worked for me.

I saw that another reviewer compared Obey to La Haine and I can get that if you base it on rebelling youth without any future against police brutality but Obey is more about a young guy searching for love whilst living with his alcoholic mother and her bad relationship choices. A good job done by Marcus Rutherford playing the young and desperate Leon. The London riots just add to the dark story, where the people live day by day without any hope of a brighter future. La Haine on the other hand was purely about ghetto youth against the whole corrupt system. A movie that I preferred to Obey if I have to be honest but to me it's a totally different movie. That said, Obey isn't a bad movie.

I just finished watching obey and I took a gamble watching it as it wasn't my usual type of pick but wow what a surprise to find such a great film. Marcus Rutherfords excellent portrayal of a youth trapped in a social hell hole struggling to do right, you can't help but root for him as he struggles against circumstances beyond his control. As my title says I was much reminded of the first time I watched quadrapheania, the wild struggle of our youth finding a way to live in a world that just doesn't care or see their plight, the portrayal of your mates that effectively become your family was done brilliantly and the spiral of situations and events that push you inevitably toward a life you just may not want or see coming. Just brilliant. Watch this film and be heartened by the fact British filmmaking is by no means lacking directorial talent or acting talent for that matter. I can honestly say I didn't see one bad portrayal in the entire film. Wow what a refreshing experience to be captivated by a movie, totally caught up in the lead actors situation and with barely a word spoken Marcus portrays every emotion and thought like youre in his head, just a brilliant example of acting, puts some of the so called great actors to shame! . All I can say is I'll be looking to find other films with these actors and directors/producers. Bravo! More! More!

This movie could have been so great...it really saddens me...the parts that are shown were really good to me...the problem is it's like watching a movie that you fell asleep on 3 or 4 times...waking up again and again having to figure out what you missed...it was a lot going on but nothing was completely explored in it's entirety...this could have easily been a two hour movie to better open and close the chapters of the story...for what it was though I would recommend it if you have a broad imagination...kind of like putting together a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces...but still being able to see what the picture is supposed to look like in the end...

Obviously this film has good intentions in telling the story that it wants to tell but unfortunately it falls flat with a way to familiar story I have seen told in films way to many times about how rough it is to be young living in an urban ghetto side of town. It was predictable mundane and at times a bit boring.