Neds (2010)

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This harsh drama follows a young Joe McGill (Gregg Forrest), as he enters middle school in early 70's Glasgow. He is viciously ostracized for his intellect and the fierce reputation of his older brother Benny (Joe Szula). Tormented by school bullies and his drunkard father; growing up, Joe (Conor McCarron), decides it is easier to follow in his brother's footsteps and become a NED (non-educated delinquent), because it is easier to survive the times and neighborhood being a ruthless hoodlum. Being violent brought him recognition just as being studious seemed to trap him.Very intense character developing; disturbing images and situations with raw language. The soundtrack features music by the likes of Hot Chocolate, T. Rex, Neil Reid and The New Seekers. Rounding out the cast: John Joe Hay, Khai Nugent, Mhairi Anderson, Ryan Walker, Scott Ingram, Gary Milligan and Christopher Wallace.

Growing up in inner city Glasgow in the Seventies, gangs are ubiquitous. The stories of stabbings and kickings have an awful, magnetic allure. Jimmy Boyle, mythologised by his lack of presence due to incarceration, like an Anti-Mandela figure, is the archetypal hardman in a town still nicknamed No Mean City. Glasgow's Miles Better has yet to be thought of. And school is not where you learn, it is where you survive.Like Lynne Ramsey's Ratcatcher, Neds resonates with Glaswegians born in the Sixties who grew up in this mayhem, and now look at it with the benefit of age and distance and wonder how we ever took it for normality.John is the academically gifted younger brother of a locally respected/ feared ned. His father is mostly missing or drunk, his mother struggles to cope. Like many Scots, the family role model is the one who has exiled herself. Joe's big brother Benny (a charismatic Joe Szula) provides a buffer between him and the worst of the violence - but also gives him a free pass towards initiation. Mean, visceral humiliation from local bully Kanta propels John away from study and towards Benny's sphere of influence. After many trials and betrayals, John survives that, till another humiliation at the point of a crossbow pushes him again to the brink.Cinematically, Mullen is playful and challenging here. The director says Kubrick and Peckinpah were evoked in keeping with the time; the duct taping of knives to hands is pure Peckinpah, and the juxtaposition of foot-tapping music with jaw-breaking violence recalls Kubrick. The ending is big canvas cinema, but it worked for me. There is also a lovely rhythm here, the gangs running toward and away from each other more often than not. That's how I remember it in Maryhill - big boys always running after or away from other big boys.Drunk Dads (Mullen in an acting career best), Bolan, six of the belt, winchin' up the graveyard, change on the buses, Provvie cheques - I loved it. But then I grew up with it. Outside Glasgow, and a certain generation, this might be more difficult to access. It will do better in Europe and Asia where the subtitles will help, and the essential coming-of-age story will rise to the fore more.

There was positive discussion of this British film on Film 2010 with Claudia Winkleman, and it looked like a good mix of This Is England and something like (a more understandable) Sweet Sixteen, so of course I wanted to see it, from director Peter Mullan. Basically, set in 1970's Glasgow, Neds (Non-Educated Delinquents) are roaming the streets, and school boy, ten year old John McGill (Greg Forrest) has been surrounded by it for some time, but ignores it to do well in his studies. After a very good academic career, fourteen year old John McGill (Conor McCarron) is ready to start secondary school, but with a dysfunctional family consisting of a drunken and violent father (Peter Mullan), troubled mother Theresa (Louise Goodall) and brother Benny (Joe Szula) constantly getting into trouble with the police, dark clouds appear in his personality. He makes friends with Julian (Martin Bell) and hanging out with the wrong crowd, John transcends into the Neds territory as he talks back to teachers and isn't bothered about punishment, and of course going against other young street thugs. Also starring John Joe Hay as Fergie, Gary Lewis as Mr. Russell, Mhairi Anderson as Elizabeth, Richard Mack as Gerr, Gary Milligan as Canta, Christopher Wallace as Wee T, Marianna Palka as Aunt Beth, Steven Robertson as Mr. Bonetti, David McKay as Mr. Holmes and Linda Cuthbert as Mrs. Matherson. I agree with the critics that it loses some grip towards the end, but all the actors, most of which are newcomers, especially McCarron and his younger self Forrest are fantastic, the realism in parts with the violence and school punishment makes for good viewing, an interesting coming-of-age drama. Worth watching!

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning John (Connor McCarron) excels as a child in his studies, but the rough, hard environment around him soon has an effect on his personal character and, as he grows up in 1970s Glasgow, he moulds into one of the pack, as problems at home and school breed the violent character within him, going up against the hard drinking, knife wielding thugs that are the sworn enemies of the hard drinking, knife wielding thugs he's in with.Glasgow still holds the notorious accolade of being 'the knife crime capital of Great Britain', so this could have been just as hard hitting and unflinching as it was setting out to be being a modern day drama. Instead, director Peter Mullan has presented a sprawling, overlong if I'm brutally honest, exploration of a young man's despairing, senseless dessension into mindless thuggery, possibly based on his own experiences. As a result of this, it comes off as very hard to get into to start with, lost as it is in it's own mood, atmosphere and style. But it's these same things that somehow manage to make it a more absorbing experience if you stick with it long enough, slowly drawing you into the life of this troubled character and the various ups and downs he encounters as he trawls through the rough landscape of his youth. Still, this feels like quite an undisciplined effort from Mullan, which veers into outlandish, arty moments (such as the lead character duking it out with the Lord Jesus Christ) that only serve to make it an even more alienating experience than it already is. ***