The tale of a group of typical twenty-somethings, living in London at the end of the 20th Century. An exploration of hard choices, hard luck and hard living. A dip into the youth culture tha... Read allThe tale of a group of typical twenty-somethings, living in London at the end of the 20th Century. An exploration of hard choices, hard luck and hard living. A dip into the youth culture that is so prevalent in any major city today. A foray into drugs, drink, relationships, growi... Read allThe tale of a group of typical twenty-somethings, living in London at the end of the 20th Century. An exploration of hard choices, hard luck and hard living. A dip into the youth culture that is so prevalent in any major city today. A foray into drugs, drink, relationships, growing up, responsibility, lessons to be learnt, changing values and morals and the realizatio... Read all
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Being a fan of Sally McLean's, when a friend got hold of a copy of this film, I sat down to watch it with great interest and high expectations.
And I wasn't disappointed. What I found was a tightly written and superbly acted piece that explored the difficulties of being a twenty-something living in London in the last throes of the 20th Century.
Very similar to the Australian television series "The Secret Life of Us" (which aired here on Channel 4 in 2001), this film is funny, touching, absorbing and confronting. The relationships between the characters are raw and realistic - sometimes disturbingly so.
The cast were all terrific - and the addition of an Australian and Japanese character to the predominantly English cast made the film more cosmopolitan and interesting. It was wonderful to see Aki Omori in the film, as I was also a great fan of "Freaky Realistic" and have their album constantly on my CD player. The character of "John" (played by James Buckley) was also a fabulous creation and the chemistry between him and Sally as "Andy" was brilliant to watch.
The only complaint I have is that the direction was sometimes rather uninspired - particularly in the dialogue scenes. However, as the previous reviewer has said, the nightclub and London night scenes made up for it by creating a collage of clashing, gaudy images that were effective and illustrative of the drug culture in any large city today.
Overall, I really enjoyed the film. I laughed and, yes, I got a little misty-eyed too. It was a brilliant ensemble piece that took a hard long look at the trials and tribulations of being a single twenty-something living in one of the largest cities in the world. It is only a shame that it didn't get to our television screens so more people could have enjoyed it.
And I wasn't disappointed. What I found was a tightly written and superbly acted piece that explored the difficulties of being a twenty-something living in London in the last throes of the 20th Century.
Very similar to the Australian television series "The Secret Life of Us" (which aired here on Channel 4 in 2001), this film is funny, touching, absorbing and confronting. The relationships between the characters are raw and realistic - sometimes disturbingly so.
The cast were all terrific - and the addition of an Australian and Japanese character to the predominantly English cast made the film more cosmopolitan and interesting. It was wonderful to see Aki Omori in the film, as I was also a great fan of "Freaky Realistic" and have their album constantly on my CD player. The character of "John" (played by James Buckley) was also a fabulous creation and the chemistry between him and Sally as "Andy" was brilliant to watch.
The only complaint I have is that the direction was sometimes rather uninspired - particularly in the dialogue scenes. However, as the previous reviewer has said, the nightclub and London night scenes made up for it by creating a collage of clashing, gaudy images that were effective and illustrative of the drug culture in any large city today.
Overall, I really enjoyed the film. I laughed and, yes, I got a little misty-eyed too. It was a brilliant ensemble piece that took a hard long look at the trials and tribulations of being a single twenty-something living in one of the largest cities in the world. It is only a shame that it didn't get to our television screens so more people could have enjoyed it.
I saw this film at it's launch at Ealing Studios in London, back in 1997. I went to the screening, not sure what to expect, but found it fun, thought-provoking and a little uncomfortable. Script writers Jonathan Carr and Sally McLean dealt with the subject matter in a practical, almost offhand way, giving a sense of being in the middle of it, but from an impartial viewpoint. The death of one of the characters was handled without over-sentimentality, yet the effect on the other characters was looked at in a realistic and sympathetic way.
None of the characters were perfect people - they all had flaws, which gave the sense that we were watching real people. All begin the film being very self-involved, but after the dramatic turn of events take place, each character is forced at some moment to take stock of who they are and how they view their place in the world. Not all the characters make changes to their outlook, which was again a nice touch and saved the film from being too pat and simple.
The cast were superb, all of them giving strong performances, particularly Rebecca Nunn, Joanna Goodchild, James Buckley and Sally McLean. David Hankinson was under-used, but excellent in the scenes that he had. All up, it was a cohesive and well-supported ensemble performance.
There were a few technical problems - the director and DOP sometimes didn't seem to know how to handle the dialogue scenes in the most interesting of ways, yet shone in the surreal nightclub and London street sequences. The sound slipped occasionally, but only seemed to add to the overall feel of the audience being a "fly on the wall", witnessing events that they shouldn't really be seeing. Editing was excellent, and made up for any technical glitches that may have occurred.
The ending was refreshing in the sense that it didn't present all the answers in one neat package. The audience was left feeling that the characters would, for the most part, be okay, but there was still some issues to resolve. This was a welcome change, as too many films that deal with drugs as their subject matter offer the film makers' opinions like it's gospel, with a clear attitude, but this was presented realistically - there are no easy answers to the problem, or the problems drugs cause.
Overall, I really enjoyed the film. It was a journey into friendship and relationships - not always happy - that gave a solid insight into the complexities of surviving as a young adult in a not-so-sympathetic modern world.
None of the characters were perfect people - they all had flaws, which gave the sense that we were watching real people. All begin the film being very self-involved, but after the dramatic turn of events take place, each character is forced at some moment to take stock of who they are and how they view their place in the world. Not all the characters make changes to their outlook, which was again a nice touch and saved the film from being too pat and simple.
The cast were superb, all of them giving strong performances, particularly Rebecca Nunn, Joanna Goodchild, James Buckley and Sally McLean. David Hankinson was under-used, but excellent in the scenes that he had. All up, it was a cohesive and well-supported ensemble performance.
There were a few technical problems - the director and DOP sometimes didn't seem to know how to handle the dialogue scenes in the most interesting of ways, yet shone in the surreal nightclub and London street sequences. The sound slipped occasionally, but only seemed to add to the overall feel of the audience being a "fly on the wall", witnessing events that they shouldn't really be seeing. Editing was excellent, and made up for any technical glitches that may have occurred.
The ending was refreshing in the sense that it didn't present all the answers in one neat package. The audience was left feeling that the characters would, for the most part, be okay, but there was still some issues to resolve. This was a welcome change, as too many films that deal with drugs as their subject matter offer the film makers' opinions like it's gospel, with a clear attitude, but this was presented realistically - there are no easy answers to the problem, or the problems drugs cause.
Overall, I really enjoyed the film. It was a journey into friendship and relationships - not always happy - that gave a solid insight into the complexities of surviving as a young adult in a not-so-sympathetic modern world.
Watching this film was like watching my own life on screen - without all the boring bits! Having lived in a flat share in South London three years ago that was almost exactly the same as the one shown in the movie (five chicks sharing the same space with very different attitudes to life and each other), this movie made me laugh and think and get teary too.
While all my flatmates are alive and well (as far as I know), we did lose a close friend to drugs during that time and the impact was shattering. This film dealt with the drugs message tactfully and subtley, but was still very realistic and made it's point well - that drugs may provide an escape, but eventually will lead to heartache and misery for all involved.
I most closely related to the character of "Maddy", who was hardest hit by the drug storyline. Her reaction was very similar to mine, and the actress, Joanna Goodchild, who played the role was brilliant in her interpretation of the character. I also really enjoyed the performances of Rebecca Nunn, Sally McLean and James Buckley - although it was an ensemble piece, these three would qualify as the lead roles and they all played their characters beautifully. Aki Omori was very cute and highly annoying (in a good way!) as "Paula". I was also surprised to see Alistair Barrie as "Simon", as I've recently seen him at The Crack Comedy Club (and thought he was hilarious), so it was great to see him in a strong dramatic role. Zara Balfour was suitably rebellious as "Sabrina" and David Hankinson did wonders with probably the least amount of dialogue in the film. Really, the whole cast was incredible.
As a newly-graduated acting student, I found this work inspiring. According to the official site for this film, all the actors were recent drama school graduates, who just went out and made this film rather than wait for the phone to ring. I salute them for their efforts and look forward to seeing more of their work ... well done to all involved.
While all my flatmates are alive and well (as far as I know), we did lose a close friend to drugs during that time and the impact was shattering. This film dealt with the drugs message tactfully and subtley, but was still very realistic and made it's point well - that drugs may provide an escape, but eventually will lead to heartache and misery for all involved.
I most closely related to the character of "Maddy", who was hardest hit by the drug storyline. Her reaction was very similar to mine, and the actress, Joanna Goodchild, who played the role was brilliant in her interpretation of the character. I also really enjoyed the performances of Rebecca Nunn, Sally McLean and James Buckley - although it was an ensemble piece, these three would qualify as the lead roles and they all played their characters beautifully. Aki Omori was very cute and highly annoying (in a good way!) as "Paula". I was also surprised to see Alistair Barrie as "Simon", as I've recently seen him at The Crack Comedy Club (and thought he was hilarious), so it was great to see him in a strong dramatic role. Zara Balfour was suitably rebellious as "Sabrina" and David Hankinson did wonders with probably the least amount of dialogue in the film. Really, the whole cast was incredible.
As a newly-graduated acting student, I found this work inspiring. According to the official site for this film, all the actors were recent drama school graduates, who just went out and made this film rather than wait for the phone to ring. I salute them for their efforts and look forward to seeing more of their work ... well done to all involved.
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