Love + Hate (2005)

Good movie but grossly overrated

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Better Late Then Never

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Signed up to IMDb just to write this review. Loved it when I was a teenager when it was released back in 2005 and it remains as one of my favourite films of all time. A pure romance but it's definitely not an easy road to get to the happiness they seek. Low budget British film but that is all the more reason to love it. Would recommend and I can watch it over and over again. I don't want to explain too much of the plot and trying to avoid any spoilers where I can but in a nutshell. Teenage white male from a heavily racist family background meets Naseema - a Muslim- at their Saturday job in a wallpaper shop. He can't hide his feelings as much as he tries. Her family would not agree with this relationship so it's dilemma of what to do to take them forward.

That's what I kept asking myself during the many fights, screaming matches, swearing and general mayhem that permeate the 84 minutes. The comparisons also stand up when you think of the one-dimensional characters, who have so little depth that it is virtually impossible to care what happens to them. They are just badly written cyphers for the director to hang his multicultural beliefs on, a topic that has been done much better in other dramas both on TV and the cinema.I must confess, I'm not really one for spotting bad performances during a film, but it must be said that Nichola Burley (as the heroine's slutty best friend) and Wasim Zakir (as the nasty, bullying brother) were absolutely terrible. I don't know what acting school they graduated from, but if I was them I'd apply for a full refund post haste. Only Samina Awan in the lead role manages to impress in a cast of so-called British talent that we'll probably never hear from again. At least, that's the hope. Next time, hire a different scout.Another intriguing thought is the hideously fashionable soundtrack featuring the likes of Snow Patrol, Ian Brown and Keane. Now, I'm a bit of a music fan and I'm familiar with most of these artists output, but I didn't recognise any of the tracks during this movie (apart from the omnipresent "Run"). B-sides, anyone? We get many, many musical montages which telegraph how we're suppose to feel. These are accompanied by such startlingly original images as couples kissing by a swollen lake and canoodling in doorways. This is a problem, as none of the songs convey the mood efficiently, and we realise the director lacks the ability to carry the emotional journey to the audience through storytelling and dialogue alone.The ending is presumably meant to be just desserts, as everybody gets their comeuppance and there is at least one big shock in store.. But I remained resolutely unmoved because the script had given me no-one to root for. It's not enough to tackle a hot-button issue, you have to actually give us a plot that hasn't already been done to death and individuals who are more than window dressing. As it stands, this film is a noble failure, with only the promising lead actress and a few mildly diverting punch-ups to save it from the bin. 4/10. Must try harder..

Promising directorial debut here with a interesting script. Probably more honest about this racial problem than any American film would ever be (just imagine a Hollywood reworking substituting black for paki...think the movie could ever end with the enraged white father beating hell out of his daughter's black boyfriend?) and with pretty good performances. Big knock...I don't care how good the music is, you can't keep interrupting an 86 minute film as often as this is without arousing the suspicion that you're stretching to reach an acceptable length.While it's perfectly okay to use the score of a film to help set the mood, it feels like the music here becomes a crutch for the director when he doesn't know how to tell the story with words and images. Still well worth a watch.

Thought this film was excellent. I actually grew up with and am still good friends with one of the cast ("Ryan Leslie - Sean") but this does not make my opinion byast, well maybe a little bit.. But really, it's good to see a film about good ol' Northern England with a subject which everyone can relate to and understand, although the subject itself isn't good, i think Dominic Savage did a great job to use such a delicate subject and make an excellent film from it. I've heard through the grapevine (Not confirmed) that Dominic is going to be working on another film which is also about true to life subjects and how one event can wreak havoc on a number of people. Let's hope that he does and hope it will be as good as this one.