Still

Whenever I was away... Jobs, meetings, whatever... Whenever there was a pause, a silence, my thoughts would just drift towards him. He was always the first thing that came into my head. Sometimes the only thing.

"Still" is gray, gloomy, depressing and poignant at the same time. It shows how someone, torn by grief after the loss of his son, leads a self-destructive life and immerses himself into a downward spiral. A hopeless life with alcohol and drugs as support. The film begins with the sound of the fatal accident and snapshots of the victim. Initially, it's a character study of Tom Carver (Aidan Gillen), a freelance photographer. But gradually it evolves into a dark thriller when a seemingly harmless incident arises between Tom and a local rascal. What follows is a threatening situation full of intimidation, confrontation and criminal offenses. A situation that gradually escalates until Tom decides to take the law into his own hands. A film where the viewer wonders : "What would I do in the same situation?".

The first thing I wondered was: "How for God's sake is it possible that an individual such as Tom could get such a gorgeous girlfriend as Christina (Elodie Yung)?". And his ex-wife Rachel (Amanda Mealing) isn't exactly ugly either and has kept in touch with him. And at certain times you get the feeling that she wants him back. However, Tom looks like a drunken bum who lives in a squat-like house, somewhere in London. His destructive way of living, filled with alcohol and drugs, plus his with grief tormented spirit, aren't exactly qualities you search for when you want to start a serious relationship.

The film starts of as a character study about the person Tom. Someone who languishes at home, who visits he grave of his son regularly together with his ex and who tries to do his job. But gradually it transforms into a full-blown thriller that leads into an outright revenge film. The thriller part is the least successful part. First of all the street kids weren't really threatening at all. Initially it all started innocent with some meaningless pranks and intimidating confrontations. Tom isn't exactly a McClane-like guy, but rather a typical family man who tries to avoid aggressiveness. The reason why the gangs revenge reached such a groundbreaking peak with Christina as victim, looked pretty far-fetched. Was this an attempt to support the revenge motive? And this revenge part is another story. A horrifying moment in which you sympathize with Tom and in a way you'll understand his decision. But at the same time deep inside yourself, you'll feel something isn't right in his reasoning and his upcoming action is unacceptable.

All in all this was once again a decent British project with brilliant performances. Especially Gillen plays a magnificent part. A rendition that evokes both pity and disapproval. Meanwhile the other performances were excellent as well. A film that fits perfectly in a big city like London. Would this be a Hollywood production, it would be bigger, full of trifling action and exaggerated drama. However, it's the minimalist and restrained character that makes this movie so great. And in the end the same question came up: "What the hell would I do if I were in his shoes?"

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Sobering tale of inner city anarchy set amidst the mean streets of modern day London. Tom is the Everyman faced with horrific choices and propelled forward by a family tragedy. Superb lighting and crisp dialogue illuminate this modern day fable of a good man reaching and becoming aware of his limitations. The dystopian depiction of London is an effective narrative device, the acting solid and capable and a mood of menace is maintained throughout. The director Simon Blake shows himself to be a capable auteur and it will be interesting to see how his muse evolves.

Simon Blake makes an impressive debut as the writer and director of this edgy, gritty film that is not afraid to take more chances than most. The film is very dark, very slow, and explores the tragedies that happen on the streets daily and yet in Simon's hands it is mesmerizing, largely due to the cast's credible performances.

Set in North London, 'Still' is a gritty and atmospheric thriller about the violent disintegration of a man and father. Tom Carver (Aidan Gillen) is a man stumbling blindly towards a crossroad in his life, thrown out of focus by the death of his teenage son Stephen in a hit and run accident a year earlier. His ex-wife Rachel (Amanda Mealing) moves on, a new girlfriend Christina (Elodie Yung) moves into his squalid apartment, but Tom's life as a photographer is reduced to taking school portraits and drinking excessively and using drugs with his smarmy journalist buddy Ed (Jonathan Slinger). He becomes involved in a feud with a teenage gang after a seemingly harmless collision with a young kid. As the feud becomes more horrifying, Carver's world starts to unravel forcing him to make decisions that will change his life forever. His confrontation with one of the neighborhood gang, Carl (Sonny Green), reveals secrets about his life he has not faced and drives him to perform and act he would have never considered before his son's death. The ending is a stunningly stark and long moment of truth.

Aidan Gillen is particularly fine in evolving his rather bland character into a man driven to acts by re-molded anger. The supporting cast is excellent – especially the vivid confrontation between Gillen and Sonny Green. It is a long and sad song but it has its merits.

Brilliant socio-realist drama. Not only are the actor's performances incredibly gripping but the colour palette and the London locale illustrates the characters very real, internal struggles. From the setting to the script, it is astonishing how accurate Simon Blake portrays the lives of both adults and youths, especially in this day and age – the narrative really makes you think about yourself and about others. I was particularly impressed and amazed by the cinematography which tells the harrowing story of a man in psychological breakdown, in a creative and unique way. The film will take you on an emotional roller-coaster where the grim nature of some scenes are incredibly hard-hitting and will leave an imprint on your memory. Definitely recommend watching this film.

Still wants to be a dark and painful drama at it's core, of which there is no shortage in contemporary cinema. It tells the story of a father broken in spirit after the accidental death of his only son, who we only know through memory and photographs throughout the film. They seemed very close, his previous marriage has ended by the time we are introduced to him, and he turns to drink and drugs to dull the emotional pain.

There is no shortage of that angle in recent cinema but the truth is many films have done it much better than this. There is a real depth of character that Aidan Gillen brings to the screen. He's a talented actor, and of course deserving to be the center of this film, but I don't think anyone could save this movie from it's lack of real storytelling. It's a very serious topic, however the direction is very A to B to C and misses some of the most important subjects it brings to the screen. This includes gang violence in North London of which, these children portraying a violent gang seem nothing more than... well children. However, any sense of danger is missing from every scene they are in. The mother, portrayed by Amanda Mealing, tries to maintain a somewhat cordial relationship with her ex-husband, but her grief and struggle are so incidental that she may as well not have been in the film at all.

The worst crime in this film however was the lack of any real depth in what should have focused on the most heinous act in the entire movie. In it, a sexual assault occurs of such violation, that it simply dwarfs anything else that happens throughout the film. An event that drives the father to the breaking point, was used as a simple plot device designed to change directions of the main character, but should have been the main focal point of the film. The director decided to go another direction and make that terrible crime so superfluous, that it barely has any screen time at all and the viewer is not invited to see what happened to the victim by the end of the film.

An unforgivable act, but more so, unforgivable direction. You may think the plot was dark and gritty, but I think it barely touched on these themes.

5/10