Still (2015)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Very Cool!!!

Such a frustrating disappointment

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Simon Blake makes an impressive debut as the writer and director of this edgy, gritty film that is not afraid to take more chances than most. The film is very dark, very slow, and explores the tragedies that happen on the streets daily and yet in Simon's hands it is mesmerizing, largely due to the cast's credible performances.Set in North London, 'Still' is a gritty and atmospheric thriller about the violent disintegration of a man and father. Tom Carver (Aidan Gillen) is a man stumbling blindly towards a crossroad in his life, thrown out of focus by the death of his teenage son Stephen in a hit and run accident a year earlier. His ex-wife Rachel (Amanda Mealing) moves on, a new girlfriend Christina (Elodie Yung) moves into his squalid apartment, but Tom's life as a photographer is reduced to taking school portraits and drinking excessively and using drugs with his smarmy journalist buddy Ed (Jonathan Slinger). He becomes involved in a feud with a teenage gang after a seemingly harmless collision with a young kid. As the feud becomes more horrifying, Carver's world starts to unravel forcing him to make decisions that will change his life forever. His confrontation with one of the neighborhood gang, Carl (Sonny Green), reveals secrets about his life he has not faced and drives him to perform and act he would have never considered before his son's death. The ending is a stunningly stark and long moment of truth.Aidan Gillen is particularly fine in evolving his rather bland character into a man driven to acts by re-molded anger. The supporting cast is excellent – especially the vivid confrontation between Gillen and Sonny Green. It is a long and sad song but it has its merits.

A gripping thriller that describes the slow loss of control of a man over his life during a short space of time, as he grieves for his dead son and a chance encounter with a local gang member.I went into the cinema to watch this with little knowledge or fore-warning of how demanding this would; the emotion, the drama, the violence.Thoroughly watchable and fascinating, this film takes you on a roller-coaster of London and the characters that inhabit the urban landscape.A wonderful piece of debut film from Blunt Pictures and Producer Colette Delaney Smith, this has won many awards - and rightly so! I look forward with much anticipation to their follow up work.

This film will pull you in right from the start and takes you on a journey that no one ever wants to be taken on. Dealing with loss of a child is a daunting task for any parent and witnessing our main character Carver having to fight with the regrets of his own and having to protect his life and loved one after things take unexpected turn, promises for a great thrilling watch. I cannot recommend this film high enough. The raw acting of Aidan Gillen and all the other actors is heart stopping and makes you question at times where the film stops and reality begins.I applaud the directing and writing talent of Simon Blake and I sure hope there will be much more coming from him in the future!

Let's be honest, half of audiences are probably here to see Aiden Gillen (Petyr Baelish) without his trademark medieval backstabbing. It's safe to say that he doesn't disappoint, almost the entire movie is exclusively about his character's spiraling life and his capable performance makes for a realistically brooding lead. Unfortunately, the film has agonizingly slow pace and it would be about one hour into the runtime before the thriller aspect actually plays out grippingly.Carver (Aiden Gillen) is a father who recently lost his son. He becomes desensitizes with his surrounding, he is less invested on his job and his promiscuous side starts to show. It is about this time that he has an encounter with a gang of juvenile thugs. From trivial things, the confrontation escalates into much more harsher scuffles. The movie is a throughout reflection of the man's hidden angst and rage.Details about his personal life, simple resentment of the more apparent tendency to drink, are appreciated. However, the excessive exposure also creates plodding in the plot, most of the subplots are too lengthy and not all of them pay off in significant way. His relationships with his best friend, ex-wife or new girls are overlapping. At times, it builds the character nicely but others the scenes might be tedious with the same rehearses theme and dialogues.There is increasing tension later at the end. Aiden Gillen delivers a good acting as the deep occasionally sad character. This movie is more of a psychological display, it's a drama at heart, not typical crime investigation. While it has its merits, the narrative feels bland. It tries to build up into an impactful message or commentary about degeneration, but it does feel contrived as it uses unsubtle method.Still has good acting from its lead to portray psychological deterioration, although the journey there is exhausting as the approach can be heavy-handed at times.