Awaydays

Having read Kevin Sampson's thoughtful novel the screen version is something of a disappointment. Characterisation and motivation are largely over-looked in favour of scenes of adrenaline-charged violence. The clothing and style of the era are meticulously created for "The pack" (the hooligan group that Carty joins) but you have to question why the people they fight are generally older less fashionably dressed groups. The pack also emerge from every fight with barely an injury. The music itself is good but often misused - is Joy Division's delicately mournful "The Eternal" really an appropriate soundtrack to a group of bovver boys snarling their way down the street? Shane Meadows "This is England" offers a far superior vision of the period.

Awaydays is a very misunderstood film in some respects. Had it been made in a time when we weren't already saturated with "football hooligan" films I genuinely believe it would've been much better received. Like Alan Clarke's 1988 "The Firm" which also uses football violence as a backdrop, Awaydays is much deeper than the likes of Football Factory. It's a story about two young lads both in that gap between being at school and entering the grown up real world if you like.

The two main characters are (I'm guessing) aged about 19 and both have dreams but neither has direction. What they have in common is they both want one another's life. It's almost tragic, because neither is going anywhere really.

After initially forming a close bond (and it's suggested that Elvis has romantic feelings towards Carty) their friendship soon starts to fall apart when the underlying reality that they are nothing alike surfaces. Neither are particularly likeable character's albeit in different ways. Elvis is probably the worse of the pair but has a very likeable side to him, he's the cool one of The Pack if you like, and the hooligan side of him is only one of a few personalities he seems to live.

Awaydays is gritty, and it's northern setting fits the story perfectly. I've read a lot of other reviews commenting on how fake the scouse accents are, but the film isn't set in Liverpool it's set on the Wirral, Birkenhead to be exact and I suppose given it's location it is a little like a Liverpool accent but slightly off if that makes sense?

Anyway, if you're expecting a football hooligan film you could be sorely disappointed. If you want to watch a decent coming of age drama with a great story I would highly recommend Awaydays.

If there's one thing I have learned watching British cinema it is this: for a country that gave name to the English language, they sure know how to ruin said language. I seriously almost turned the movie off within the first 15 minutes because I could barely understand what anyone was saying. I've spent enough time in the UK to get most of the slang and whatnot, but the accents of the two main characters are just too thick. Plus, as one reviewer has already pointed out, the movie is rather bland. I think it wanted to be a slightly more dramatic version of Green Street Hooligans, but it ended up as a similar movie without much of the fighting or compelling story.

To be honest with you, I really like the idea of completely ditching the relationship between the two main characters. It's nearly impossible to follow and pretty pointless. And while I usually enjoy watching Stephen Graham do his thing, this role is a bit of a waste for him.

All in all I'd find it hard to give this a good recommendation to a friend. It's not awful, but it just feels kind of pointless. If it was more an interesting snapshot of England in the 1970's (along with the hooligan aspect) it would've worked a lot better. Throw in all the melodramatic pointlessness and it becomes increasingly less so. I guess you could watch it if you didn't have anything better to do, but that's all the endorsement I'm willing to give it.

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

After the death of his mother, Paul (Nicky Bell) is looking for some direction in his life and thinks he's found it with 'the pack', a gang of football hooligans in late '70s Merseyside with a distinctive dress sense and tribal mentality. However, an encounter with former top boy Elvis (Liam Boyle) gives him an alternate view of them and the possibility of moving his life in a more positive direction. Elvis's dream is to escape to Berlin and lead a more fulfilling life and this is a direction Paul sees...but circumstances beyond his control drag him down with those around him and see his life thrown into chaos.

As morally dubious as they are, 'hooligan' films certainly have their own cult following in the UK, although this dramatization of a late 70s Merseyside gang has received limited exposure. It's an admirable piece, without any funding from any of the big London studios (ah), and it's not translated particularly badly into a film. But that doesn't mean it works.

The performances from the two lead actors are fine, as well as supporting actors such as man of the moment Stephen Graham in a smaller role, but who manages to have presence even with this. And it's an engaging piece of human drama, that manages to sweep you along with enough substance and depth to keep you hooked. But it's all lost on some weird art-house trip with itself, with slow, lingering close up shots of Boyle's bare chest and symbolism with red paint flowing between fingers representing blood, all done to a haunting Joy Division soundtrack. While it's stuck in this rut, the story becomes less engaging, the characters lose their depth and the film generally becomes a bit of a mess. Hardly a failure, but still a bit of a shame. **

Tried desperately hard to enjoy this film and it seemed to start off OK but the mixed story lines, and slow moving scenes etc meant I was nodding off about half way through and found it a struggle to get to the end.

Some good bits but too jumbled and so many loose ends to really enjoy along with a damp squid of an ending that did it no favours. The sound track was probably the most enjoyable element with some decent 70's 80's tunes throughout.

As hooligan films go, bit more realistic in places than sum such as Green St which is utter tosh but not on the same level as the original film of the 'Firm' with Gary Oldman which is a classic and still the best in my opinion.