Kicks (2009)

the audience applauded

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Kicks contains a powerful cultural message for everyone particularly if like myself you live in the UK, where a part of our media culture is unjustly focused on Footballers and WAGS (otherwise known as Wives and Girlfriends) to the extent of shallow worship. In Kicks we are shown the dangerous obsession such worship can lead to.Nicole and Jasmine are two teenage girls from opposite walks of life. Nicole from a working class background and a broken family while Jasmine lives in an up - scale house surrounded by wealth yet both girls are in search of the same goal, to live the WAG's lifestyle. Together they become determined to seek the affections of a local football star by following him to local nightclubs and hanging around his home. It all sounds very pathetic but it is unfortunately an aspect included in today's generation where girls want to be a part of the media frenzied shallowness without understanding the consequences. In Jasmine's case it is not surprising since she has been raised around an environment where wealth is everywhere and looks are given unnecessary attention, made obvious in the scene where Jasmine's Mother had Nicole feel her breast to prove they are real as if it was a great triumph in appearance.But with Nicole it is more of a tragic circumstance. Kicks hints at the isolation Nicole experiences at home. Her Mother always at work, her Father does not bother to contain a relationship with Nicole and her Brother is away in the Army all revealed to us by brief snippets of mise en scene. It's hard not to sympathise with Nicole as she becomes so desperate to fill a void in her life that she places undying love and loyalty to a man she has never met, showing the devotion some of today's youth place in media figures, how this part of our culture is both a powerful and harmful aspect. Predictably Kicks soon sends Nicole and Jasmine's distorted visions crashing down to earth.They soon meet their Footballing idol Lewis on a night which exposes the hidden cracks and dark truths in their obsessions and the dream they seek. The playful sexuality between themselves and their idol quickly turns ugly when he turns sexually aggressive in his demands and revelations about his private affairs come to surface which turns Nicole off and makes Jasmine become annoyed with herself for having feelings for him to the point where she uses her body to confront her disgust with their idol's true self. Although Jasmine does this as an act of revenge it also shows the extent she and Nicole were emotionally vulnerable to these obsessions making them fragile victims to their desires.The events bring to life the falsehoods of these dreams and so called ambitions, that in the end it is simply not worth it. Although Kicks story wise was not difficult to decipher, its themes of a low class culture which people revolve their lives around was done in a realistic tone making it sadder of a realisation that they are girls of this generation who seek to be a WAG solely on the basis of glamorised media reporting which in conclusion makes Kicks a thoughtful piece of social commentary.

The premise of Kicks intrigued me. Two girls who obsess over a Liverpudlian football player (Lee) take their obsession too far. It sounded like a cross between The Loved Ones and Misery (which I both love) although I knew it was more of a dark drama than a horror film. However, I believe it would've benefited delving into straight, crazy horror!Kicks does begin with intrigue, it sets up two characters nicely and the Liverpool setting is something different and rarely used in films. I thought the obsession was brilliantly done, often chilling with make-shift tattoos and a picture of Lee under the quilt. I also thought that the characters were explored in-depth and with a sense of ambiguity about them. Unfortunately Kicks lacks the narrative drive that it desperately needed. It begins to ponder after half an hour and once it does look like things are getting thrilling, they quickly become repetitive and dull.The first half is very realistically done, whereas the second half turns into something over the top, which is fine, accept that it presents itself as something believable and so lacked the crazy fun The Loved Ones was able to offer. I believe that it should've indulged itself in horror to make it extremely twisted and more entertaining. Instead the ball runs to a stand-still and you end up feeling as fed up as Lee.The acting is quite shaky with an extremely wooden performance from Lee, but that shouldn't worry you too much. What you must appreciate here is the brilliant central relationship and the message about celebrity culture. My sister has an unhealthy obsession with Helena Bonham Carter and Lady Gaga, making it all the more chilling for me as I believe she would do something like this! However, it does become too far-fetched without making anything fun out of it. It's worth a watch but is unfortunately a piece of wasted potential.

I found this film to be a gripping one. it took some of British culture's stereotypes "chavs" and "wags". and portrayed them as people with depth and culture. globally people will enjoy this film as the roles of gender are examined , and the influence they have on celebrity,longing and teenage humanity. the film is set in liverpool , home of the beatles , a coastal town. ad mist the dysfunction families in the movie is an affinity with the liverpool docks, the movie shows that the heart of liverpool is as much in the docks as it is on the soccer field. all of this is set to a romantic soundtrack by the band "ladyhawke" who add a high quaility soundtrack to the movie. this film is recommenced to people who enjoyed : "monster" ,"the disappearance of alice creed " and even "8 mile "

I noticed this film by chance in my local video rental shop. Directed by Lindy Heymann (who received a British Independent Film Award in 2002 for co-directing Showboy), "Kicks" premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 2009 but was overshadowed by the praise heaped on Andrea Arnold's Fish Tank. It tells of two Liverpudlian girls in their mid-to-late teens who follow everything to do with Liverpool star player Lee Cassidy (Jamie Doyle). Fanatically. Peeking through a high wall to see him training, they progress to waiting for him for hours after matches, hanging around outside his luxury apartment, and breaking into the underground complex where his silver Mercedes is parked.The two female leads are fantastic: Nichola Burley (who will feature in this year's Wuthering Heights) plays the black-haired WAG wannabe Jasmine and Kerrie Hayes the poorer, fair-haired Nicole who is convinced that she is in love with Lee and longs for the famous footballer to rescue her from the depressing limitations and boredom of her life. Where will the two girls' infatuation lead when their heartthrob announces a sudden transfer to Real Madrid? Given the social realist tone of the film, we know that the consequences of their unbridled projections are likely to be bleak.The film's title takes on an extra nuance in some of the final, painful moments. Blending burgeoning sexuality, female friendship and social commentary on celebrity culture and the aspirations of many modern-day British teenagers, it asks us: When does a teenage crush become something more irrational? Where does idolisation end and stalking begin? What could be the consequences of confusing our fantasies with reality? And what are the dangers of the position occupied by celebrities in modern culture and society? In doing so - and this is one of the key positives of Leigh Campbell's screenplay - idolisation is not depicted as static but as a process: Nicole, in particular, goes through a gamut of emotions in the course of her celebrity obsession, shifting from dreamy hope, through disappointment, to a desire for revenge. But the script reveals deficiencies in the second half, especially with regard to the lines given to Lee. The pacing and plausibility falter in the long scene inside the caravan, spoiling the tension in this otherwise superb, energetic film. (8 stars) Extras include an 18-minute featurette with the director and two female leads, along with the trailer.Recommended if you like: Me Without You, Morvern Callar, Fish Tank, My Summer Of Love, This Is England