Shank

Fairly intense boy-meets-boy, falls in love story, but with a twist. Gang member Cal (Wayne Virgo), a closeted gay, comes to the defense of innocent gay teen Olivier after Cal's gang begins beating him. Cal is ostracized from his gang, which includes his best friend Jonno. The upper class Olivier invites Cal to stay with him as Cal avoids threats of violence from his former gang, who discover Cal's hidden gay past. Sparks fly and a relationship forms, but will Cal's terrible past come back to haunt him? Fairly watchable film shot in England. I give this film a 6 of 10, fair to good and worth watching. Manages to form realistic characters. A lot of frontal nudity and graphic simulated sex scenes throughout. Graphic rape and harsh language. Some reviewers criticize the acting of the actor playing Olivier, but I found it realistic and believable. A film that stands enough on its own to warrant a watch. "

SHANK is an important debut film for director Simon Pearce (apparently only 21 years old) and writers Darren Flaxstone and Christian Martin. The story has the courage to be honest enough to view gang behavior and the cross section of needs that gang membership provides to young lads in search of their true identity: first comes identification through 'belonging' to like lost souls, and second comes the breakthrough of self discovery. The fact that this rather terrifying tale is based on fact as lived by the writers adds to the punch the film carries.

Cal (Wayne Virgo) is the vulnerable lead lad, a member of a Bristol gang led by a rather despicable female Nessa (Alice Payne) who finds pleasure in 'filming' the gang's bashing of victims. Cal takes on this trait by seeking out victims for release of his same sex energy, using drugs to render his victims cooperative, films his conquests using a cellphone camera, and then beats the victims bloody: an early scene illustrates this behavior with a teacher named Scott (Gary Summers) who while recovering shares the incident with an off screen therapist, gradually unfolding the fact that Scott's partner was abused by this same gang. While Cal displays this pugilistic behavior in secret, in the presence of his gang his physical attraction to fellow gang member Jonno (Tom Bott, in an impressive film debut) surfaces - an attraction that appears to be reciprocal were it not for the forbidden arena of same sex love. The gang attacks a young French exchange student Olivier (Marc Lambert), but Cal cannot tolerate the abuse of this obviously innocent gay lad and follows him, offering him a ride home, and eventually merging into accepting his sexual identity with the kindness of Olivier's open heart. Once the gang discovers Cal's desertion, the stalking begins and Jonno awakens to his own needs for Cal - much to the chagrin of the coarse Nessa. There is a final confrontation between Cal and Olivier and the gang, and Jonno exacts his revenge and devastation in a brutal attack. The manner in which the characters resolve their needs and find themselves is the ending of the film.

The young cast is excellent and the varying chemistries among them is credible. The film is a British Indie and would be more impressive if the dialog was not so covered with extraneous sound and by the use of Bristol accents which are all but unintelligible. Virgo, Laurent and especially Bott make strong impressions for a debut outing. This team will likely be heard from in additional films.

Grady Harp

I found this movie randomly on Netflix, and I did not really think it was going to be anything special. However, I LOVED it, it was steamy and real and pretty much kept me and my friends glued to the screen the entire time. (Which is not an easy thing to do. The end really shocked the hell out of me and that was a plus! The characters where easy to relate to and were all pretty well thought out. It was hard to understand some of the slang in the movie since I'm not from the UK but it was okay. The music (J.Knights in particular) really helped me get into the film. I try to get almost everyone I know to watch this because it's definitely one of the better indie films i've seen in a really long time.

I was lucky enough to catch this movie in Bristol. At the L&G festival in Miami the director won the Roger Walker-Dack Award for Emerging Talent in Queer Cinema. From researching the film and hearing the writer/editor and producer in a Q&A afterwards the film takes on a completely different resonance of believability when we learned that the majority of the narrative had been woven from real life events that had taken place in the UK.

All the acting is first rate - with the French boy actually turning out to be French with a genuine accent to boot and not a faked or 'acted' accent. There's an astonishing vulnerability to the lead, a vicious vile portrayal by the female gang leader and some wonderful nuanced acting from the troubled Jonno. All the supporting cast give this film a depth that you wouldn't expect from a low budget independent film with such high production values.

This is a gritty, urban and energetic film that grabs you from frame one and drives you through so many twists and turns that you find your emotions rubbed raw one minute then soothed the next. The final showdown is brutal in it's treatment of pent-up unrequited love between two young men and the biblical aftermath moved many in our audience to tears. The ending provides hope from a dire situation.

Incredible raw camera work carousels you through the lives of these delinquent British youth whilst an urban 'great' soundtrack of hip-hop and rap is beautifully underscored by British composer Barnaby Taylor - whose piano and guitar punctuation at key moments helps bring the arc of the main character's story to an emotional high.

People responded in an animated and engaged way to the screening in Miami with outbursts of laughter at plot points that gave the audience an opportunity to release some of the tension from the scenes of violence. There was also a palpable enjoyment of the more tender and moving moments that never felt gratuitous or deliberate but balanced.

The Miami New Times says of the film "21yr old Director Simon Pearce has taken the bildungsroman, held it up against the wall and punched its face in."

I had to look the word up as well and it means - BILDUNGSROMAN - A novel whose principal subject is the moral, psychological, and intellectual development of a usually youthful main character.

I agree it did punch it in the face.

From the facebook page ( shank cal shank - profile name) for the film it's clear that I'm not alone in my cry of 'bravo' to these innovative and daring film makers - the coming-out genre has been declared dead and buried with this film and SHANK is the new dawn for gay cinema.

Lifting from the facebook page a Toronto audience member has commented:

""It was as close to a sell-out audience as you could get. The crowd seemed to really like it - great round of applause at the end and some laughs and gasps throughout as we reacted to certain scenes. Some great acting by a bunch of fresh talent, esp. Jonno and Cal. I hope it receives more acclaim around the globe. People need to see this - in the vein of Kids."

another audience member from Toronto on their Youtube page commented:

""I also saw the movie in Toronto, too... large audience..... very well received. Beautifully filmed. Great actors! I wondered how someone at 21 could have directed such a well made film. The script must have been well written, too. - I was impressed."

I note that Miami and Toronto are not the only festivals who are screening the film - it appears to be screening all over the world having launched in Melbourne in March - I recommend anyone who's at the 25+ festivals that are listed to go see it.

This all adds up to a 10/10 in my book.....a rarity - film makers for SHANK don't rest on your laurels make another one.....can't wait

As a gay man I can understand why other gay men have found this film difficult to watch. It is disturbing.

It depicts a very real story that looks at a young gay gang member hiding from his fellow hoodlums his sexuality whilst engaging in dangerous and at time's very unsafe sexual practices without their knowledge.

Only a chance encounter (and subsequent love affair) with a victim of the gangs abusive streak arrests his spiral and descent into the hell of the ultimately bored undereducated unemployed subculture that does hang out on Britain's street corners intimidating all those who appear to have more to their lives than they do! This betrayal turns the tables and lives change - forever.

Whilst I agree that some of the acting is clunky and requiring more schooling - it is all very valiant in effort. I haven't marked the film down for this as the direction, script and editing and urban soundtrack (balanced with some lovely score) keep you hooked to the last. The first frame of the film is carried with you to the last reveal and this satisfies the viewer considerably.

This is a brave film, unique when set against the volume of gay films that are being released that have nothing new to say and tread well worn clichéd paths. I genuinely applaud it. It's unique interwoven story deserves at least a 9 out of 10 on its own.

It might not be comfortable viewing for many but it packs a punch that resonates for a long time afterwards - a mark of a good film. Quite rightly it reminds us that despite more liberal legislation of late gay life is still uncertain, insecure and gay men are still very vulnerable from fearful attitudes.