This is another CFF movie worth highlighting. Kids just can't keep out of troubles, and this film portrays such a kid very well. The acting is just great.
It would be rated 5 or 6 out of 10 for a regular movie because some parts of the plot seem unconvincing. But such flaws are often found in this kind of films. So, as a CFF production this gets 7 of 10 from me.
Wanna know how stories are created? How imagination works, and how surrounding things can spontaneously inspire us in an unexpected way? Then this movie is a must watch!
It's a wonderful, moving and exciting tale depicting a free flow of mind, showing how simple things - like a sight at the window, or a picture on a wall - can spark an incredible story that is solid and interesting to follow, even though the story itself may be a complete nonsense! :)
This film stars Bill Milner whom I've already mentioned in my review for Son of Rambow (2007), and although his appearance is very short, he does a great job as always.
This is an ode to imagination. Kid's imagination, to be precise. Have you ever noticed that children are much more imaginative than adults? Duh! And yet, the way this movie depicts this subject is just brilliant.
The most exciting scene is when Will, the principal character, accidentally watches First Blood (1982) at friend's place, and on a way back home he imagines himself being Rambo running through the fields and "shooting" imaginary creatures all around him! :) Next time he's taken home by a priest, and, while watching at the window from a back seat of the car, he sees imaginary laser beams and cartoon explosions happening by the road. Also, his notebook (a paper one, the movie is set in the beginning of 1980's) is full of drawings which, when turning the pages quickly enough, transform to a moving picture.
Such an extreme level of imagination is possible because kids aren't limited by social norms, moral dogmas, or, after all, by the science itself. The more we educate ourselves, the more often the knowledge we've acquired evidences that there are boundaries in what can be done in reality and what cannot. Growing up, we tend to avoid even thinking of that infeasible stuff.
For instance, take a flying dog, huh? First it appears in Will's drawings. Then Lee, his friend, steals a clay dog, attaches deltaplane's wing to it, and voilà, they've got a dog that can fly for real! What mess that experiment brings in real life is another story, though. :)
While education helps us understand what technically can or can not be done, norms and dogmas, on the other hand, teach us what may not be done [1]. Where do the norms and dogmas come from? You could have guessed already - the religion, where else? Like in my previous review of a short Timothy and the World of Tomorrow (2010), this feature film deals with parents who, being religious, project their rules onto their children. Watching TV is banned, friendship with faithless schoolmates is prohibited. Just constraints, and no way to develop one's creativity.
However, Will's sincere friendship with Lee, their common interest in filming a remake of First Blood together, and finally, his everlasting energy help Will break through the restrictive rules. There's no way to keep a kid away from dreaming!
Since the film depicts 1980's, the soundtrack pleases us with a lot of New Wave music, and tunes by The Cure in particular. Spectacular acting by Bill Milner as Will must be mentioned as well. I've seen him in Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (2010), Mixtape (2009), and he always makes a great performance. This amazing move is not an exception.
An artsy guy experiencing insomnia finds inspiration in dreams about naked women's bodies while he works nightshifts in a supermarket. I guess I've just told you the whole storyline in just one sentence. :) Blame me not, since the most interesting part of the movie is in the details, but the story itself is as stupid and absurd as stated above.
Actually, apart from camera work (worth noting that some of it resembles that seen in Vertigo (1958)), there isn't much to mark. Perhaps the most important part is how this movie depicts the process of creating art. An artists has to virtually freeze the time to make out features of a person, a place, a circumstance, or whatever else they want to devote their piece of art to.
While looking through the features, the artist chooses either beautiful and perfect, or bizarre and weird ones. Finally, these features are layered on a "canvas", perhaps undergoing through hyperbolization, metaphorization, or some other sort of transformation. I put the word "canvas" in quotes because the process applies to any form of art actually, be it paintings, literature, or, say, music.
Note that there's also a short version of the movie: Cashback (2004), however, it doesn't carry the same amount of meaning as the full one. Basically it looks simply like a short comedy. Although some people may start with the short film first and consider it as a teaser for the full version (that was my case, actually.)
A chav struggles to find a way out of his social group. Justin, the main character, is an 18 yo guy. He and his friends abuse drugs, fight, run away from police, and even shoot at people. Basically, all this (well, barring the crime) reminds us of the behavior of pre-teen kids on a playground or at a break in school. From time to time Justin feels that his friendship isn't going to bring him anything good in his life. His severely ill sister and a ghost-like black man in the church are the only people who support him. What will be the outcome of the story?
Well, don't expect a happy ending here, otherwise this wouldn't be a drama. The environment we grow up in affects us very much, at times making it impossible to even realize a way to improve ourselves.
What I personally dislike is the way sound is mixed in this movie. Unnecessarily loud music pieces make it difficult to recognize speech sometimes. On the other hand, the choice of black and white filming with a color appearing in the very end makes sense and complements the story very well.
All in all, a good idea slightly poorly implemented. Read more for some screenshots.
