London Film Fest 2011 Day 9 - WILD BILL

Jimmy and Dean fending for themselves in a Newham council flat.

There are those of us of a certain age who have grown up with Dexter Fletcher. As kids we watched him as the cute wanna be tough guy "Babyface" in Alan Parker's delightful BUGSY MALONE. As teens we watched him in the TV show "Press Gang" playing a cool American wannabe journo.  In our errant twenties we watched him plan a heist in Guy Ritchie's superb caper flick, LOCK STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS, and more recently, we've seen him cover up for Robert De Niro's cross-dressing pirate in Matthew Vaughn's STARDUST.  This familiarity bought Dexter Fletcher a great deal of goodwill from the London Film Fest Audience who watched his debut directorial effort.  And the good news is that the film is really worth watching, despite a somewhat predictable plot once the initial set-up is in place.  

WILD BILL is set in the same London of Guy Ritchie's flicks - the East London of drug-dealers, hard-men and hard-ups in council houses.  But it has far more heart, far more subtlety, and is far better observed.  In other words, you gain a whole lot of authenticity and insight, while losing none of the comedy. In fact, one of the great comedic charms of the film is realising that Fletcher has discovered the new "babyface" -  a young kid called Sammy Williams who plays Jimmy - a little kid with an hilariously foul mouth, but also a lot of vulnerability.

As the movie opens we meet Dean (Will Poulter) and Jimmy living alone in a filthy council flat, with Dean taking on the grim responsibility of a father and the age of just fifteen. Their mother has abandoned them and their father, "Wild Bill", a violent drug pusher and addict, has been in prison for eight years. Bill emerges a reformed man - he wants a clean break in Scotland - but isn't reformed enough to want to take care of his kids.  Problem is, he has to stick around long enough to fool social services, so that Dean and Jimmy aren't put into Care.  What follows is a predictable family reconciliation, complete with a "tart with a heart" character, and an aggressive local mafiosi threatening Bill's conditions of parole.  

From left to right, Sammy Williams (Jimmy); Will Poulter (Dean);
 Charlie Creed-Miles (Bill); and Dexter Fletcher (Writer-Director)
introduce WILD BILL at the London Film Festival

But the film is elevated above its narrative clichés thanks to its genuinely sympathetic characters, the whip-smart dialogue and the fact that Fletcher doesn't flinch from poking holes in the Guy-Ritchie-style myths of East End hard-men.  Many a time we see a guy giving it all that, but turning and running at a key point, and the annoying Ali-D style white boy, Pill (Iwan Rheon) gets a verbal slapping too. I also love the fact that where ROCKNROLLA (a film I still liked) made heavy work of contrasting the poverty of the East End with the redevelopment of Stratford, Fletcher shows the same contrast with much more subtlety. It's enough to show the view of the new Olympic village from the balconies of crumbling social housing - it speaks powerfully enough of the issues facing British society - without being crass or simplistic.  

In front of the camera, I'm full of admiration for Charlie Creed-Miles who has to portray a nasty selfish character at the start of the film but also make his road to responsibility seem credible, and to Sammy Williams who steals every scene he's in.  Behind the camera, George Richmond's lensing use the Arri Alexa is crisp, and the sound-track is superb.  Overall, this is an assured debut directorial effort from Fletcher, deftly balancing raucous humour and pathos - and I can't wait to see what he does next.

WILD BILL played London 2011.

Overlooked DVD of the month - CASS

CASS is the impressive debut feature from British writer-director Jon S Baird, based on the autobiography of Cass Pennant, an infamous football hooligan. The movie is constructed in a fairly straightforward manner and is well-acted throughout.

We first meet Cass as a young black kid adopted by white parents in a rough part of London. Linda Bassett and Peter Wright are impressive and believable as the parents - the mother a strong, morally upright woman without being priggish - the father, a quiet, passive type whose only bond with his son is watching soccer matches - not the most forgiving environment for a black kid. Cass is an angry boy. He speaks like a white kid, but knows he's different and acts out because of it. It's unsurprising that when he's accepted by the football hooligans, and gets a sense of belonging and respect, he thrives. Violence becomes a way of life, and it's clear that Cass is clever and charismatic. When he's interviewed by a patronising middle-class TV reporter he turns the table on her with his articulate defense of hooliganism. If the working classes want to vent their frustration by beating each other up in a controlled environment, what's it to anyone else? And aren't the middle-classes more to blame for their leering voyeurism? Cass' life changes when he's put in prison and starts exploring his black heritage. He comes out and turns straight - well, semi-straight - running security for clubs, but finds it hard to put the old life behind him.

Nonso Anozie is charismatic and convincing as Cass, and the movie realistically depicts 1980s and 1990s London - the sets, costumes, language and scenery are spot on. I found the portrait of British race-relations compelling - and it resonated with my memories of that period. This is an impressive feature debut and I look forward to watching Jon S Baird's next film.

CASS opened in the UK in August 2008 and is available on DVD.

Overlooked DVD of the month - STONED

Last week, Family007 went to Marrakech to go crazy Brian-Jones style. This gives me the perfect excuse to recommend an interesting small-budget British flick called STONED, recently released on DVD. The movie is a biopic of Brian Jones, the founder Rolling Stone, and spends most of its time focusing on his untimely death. I found the story absolutely compelling, not least because, as a child of my time, I had never really understood how important and talented Jones was. He was basically a middle-class English schoolboy who also happened to be a brilliant Blues guitarist. Having knocked a girl up, he left home to travel, eventually ending up in London where he recruited Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. As the fame and money accrued to the band, the Stones' manager realised the money-making potential of the band writing their own songs, rather than covering old blues standards. As the manager promoted the Richards/Jagger partnership, Jones was edged out of his own band until he was finally, formally sacked. Of course, the rest of the Stones could claim that Jones had made it impossible for them to work with him. He took a lot of drugs, drunk a lot of milk(!) But then, it does seem a bit rich for Richards to sack Jones for doing some drugs, not to mention abandoning him in Marrakech, stealing Pallenberg in the process. Now, I know it's "just a film" but you get the feeling that for director Stephen Woolley (who produced the brilliant movie, The Crying Game) STONED is a labour of love. This lends the narrative a lot of credibility and, despite what I have just said, it never feels like it is made by a Jones-fan who is "out to get" the other Stones.

The movie gets it absolutely right in terms of casting, costumes and sets although it is hard not have a giggle at Paddy Considine's comedy wig and red neckerchief combo. Cleverly, Woolley only ever shows the actors playing Jagger and Richards from a distance or behind suitably flamboyant hair and clothes. This helps blur the lines between iconic faces and actors who actually look very little like them. There are nicely done cameos from David Walliams of Little Britain fame, and David Morrissey of Basic Instinct 2 is brilliantly sleazy as Jones' fixer, Tom Keylock. But for me, once again, it is Paddy Considine who steals the show. His character is a working-class builder called Frank Thorogood. Frank starts out running errands for Jones and is soon his crutch. The relationship works well for a while: the lonely Jones needs constant attention and Frank is just happy to be transported into a Bacchanalian world of hot European blondes and endless boozing.

For me, the movie becomes a little less credible when it focuses on one theory of how Jones' died. (No, not the obvious "he took a bunch of drugs and OD'ed in his pool theory.) I won't spoil the surprise other than to point out that while it is based on a death-bed confession I find the motivation a little weak. Anyways, for all that, this is a highly interesting drama and if you are interested in all things 1960s and/or all things conspiracy, you should check it out.

STONED played at the London Film Fest last November and is now available on DVD.

GREEN STREET HOOLIGANS - the most rubbish Cockney accent since Mary Poppins

GREEN STREET HOOLIGANS does not suck as much ass as GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN' but it gets pretty close. It is a film made about British football thugs. The only things you need for that are a) people who can speak with a convincing cockney accent b) the ability to direct fight scenes c) the ability to shoot football. First time feature director, Lexi Alexander, has none of the above. This is NOT because she has hired the hobbit in a lead role - he may be unconvincing as a hooligan but that is rather the point. He plays a naive young Harvard boy who gets suckered into thuggery by his brother-in-law. No, her fault was in casting Charlie Hunnam as the lead Londoner. Hunnam has joined the honoured ranks of Dick van Dyke and Damon Albarn as the worst "mockneys" in history. Worse still, as I said before, she can't shoot football matches - we barely keep track with the ball - and she certainly can't shoot fight scenes. Instead of giving us insight into the social drivers of hooliganism all she does is glamourise it with loving MTV editing, and the kind of music cues that try to persuade the audience that it is cool and noble to punch people for kicks. All in all, the result is neither edifying nor entertaining. So, if you want to watch a movie about a "firm", just rent THE FOOTBALL FACTORY instead.

GREEN STREET HOOLIGANS is available on Region 1 and Region 2 DVD. It gets a cinematic release in France on the 7th June 2006.