Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise

From the reaction at the screening at this year's Toronto Int'l Film Festival, "Vacuuming..." and "Strumpet" - two new films from Danny Boyle, are instant crowd favourites.

Danny Boyle is back, after slumming it with "A Life Less Ordinary" and "The Beach." He's in familiar territory here, similar to that of "Trainspotting." We see working class angst, social realism and a healthy dose of the fantastic.

It's gritty, it's dirty, and it's incredibly entertaining. Boyle manages to find gold in the gutters of the slums.

He's also assembled a fine cast of actors, including Timothy Spall and Christopher Eccleston (in "Strumpet.").

Perhaps the biggest triumph lies in Boyle's ability to use digital video to his advantage. The possibilities of the medium are fully displayed here, and the result is breathtaking.

One hopes that Boyle will stick to what he does best and leave Hollywood behind him!

This is a new favourite of mine. Timothy Spall's Tommy Ragg was brilliantly repulsive and hilarious to watch, while Pete swayed violently from being in awe of his mentor's drive for a sale, to wet-yourself fear of his driving skills. Two very convincing portrayals of two very bizarre characters - one incredibly foul and the other oddly likable. I watched it with my brother and we cacked ourselves. It's great.

This is the funniest film I have seen in a long time. I actually laughed out loud. The characters are so true to life they make one see how utterly bizarre life is. Particularly the character of Tommy. Anyone who has ever worked in a sales position will find his performance perfectly hilarious. It's probably not a comedy for everyone though. There's a fair amount of raw English slang and one remarkably graphic sex scene that almost seems out of place until you hear Pete's comment in the scene that follows. Overall I recommend this, but by all means expect the unexpected!

Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise - isn't that one of those rare titles for a movie that you just have to ponder over for a little while, like Duck You Sucker! or Pillow of Death? If the movie doesn't quite live up to the its title like 'Sucker' did or 'Pillow' definitely did not, then it's to director Danny Boyle's credit that he keeps it moving fast and maniacally but with his own kind of sensitivity to the characters that doesn't make us see them as too pathetic or too "out-there" to care. He also films this story of a wannabe DJ working as a vacuum salesman (Michael Begley), paired as a rookie with the veteran/hard-bitten and ranting and raving man (Timothy Spall) who could definitely tangle with Alec Baldwin in Glegarry Glen Ross to see who wins out in selling something to a reluctant or just not-there customer, like it's a movie on the run for $100.

In a way that makes it an amazingly brash affair in a good way; we see these guys in their car or Spall making a sale or just Begley at home freaking out when his girlfriend leaves him as if it's all candid or on the run. He shoots with several little cameras in a car or shoots with a dirty filter in a dance hall, and if one has seen Slumdog Millionaire or 28 Days Later you may notice a similar lucid insanity (if that makes sense) of style. In another way it can be distracting to the actual plot, or whatever of it there is, but he thankfully allows his actors to take over much of the control throughout.

While Begley, a British TV actor I've never seen before and may not see again, was very good in that fresh-faced "what-is-this-world" perspective (with a breathless freak-out after finding a dead body that is priceless), it's Timothy Spall's show. An actor who's been in plenty of Mike Leigh films and some big blockbusters like Harry Potter, Spall imbues his character with purpose and drive and a deliberate knack for getting people with him killed while driving, playing outrageously simply and funny motivation tapes with hardcore music and "Sell! Sell! F***ing Sell!" blasting away, and acting totally out of control but devilishly in control at the same time. It's remarkable work considering it's just a TV movie, but any moment he's on screen, especially those last moments that (un)intentionally echo La Strada, you can't look away for the better.

After a string of awful movies - especially "Strumpet" - Boyle does a rather entertaining English-type indie thing which, though visually unappealing and dominated by hand-held camera and other annoying stuff, maintains a certain level of interest. Spall certainly helps affairs, but the David Thewlis look-alike also.

There is a very funny scene where Spall plays a "motivation song" in the car: it is a simple punk song with the lyrics being only "Sell! Sell F***ing Sell! (etc)..." which he then sings to.

It's a solid movie, but no need to get too excited. If you are a fan of "Trainspotting", don't expect that sort of level of entertainment here.