Mixing the surreal of Vic and Bob's 'Weekenders' and the humour of 'Phoenix Nights' with a dash of 'Peep Show' minus the inner dialogue comes 'Big Things' the debut feature from Mark Devenport. Filmed on location in Nottingham it tells the story of Richard a cycle currier with dreams of being a great director. Fuelled by his passion of not only making his film 'A distance too far' but also getting away from his mundane existence of his mad family, being picked on by a Royal Mail worker and to provide a better life for himself and girlfriend Gemma, we see Richard enlist a ragtag bunch of friends and misfits in a vein attempt to complete the production. With a script that holds as many laughs as moments of poignancy the crew set to work making the story. Richard's producer Ray, who works at the meat factory, is you imagine just like his character in real life and is perfect companion for Richard allowing for some of the films funniest moments. Richard (played by Tony Claassen who also co-wrote) is a great lead and alongside a wealth of other characters a joy to watch. My only disappointment and its not really a criticism is that I personally think that this would have worked better as a six part television series where some of the lesser characters could be explored more, that said you get enough to not let it spoil your enjoyment of what is essentially a homage to struggling filmmakers (ironically if you knew the director you would see certain clever parallels) and traditionally a honest love story. Richard could pick his crew but not his family and eventually they become what his family can't be, believers in his dream and the people who can make or break it. What is so special about the film is the very thing that is the essence of the plot, people coming together to make a film and doing it against the odds. The scene with the wheelie bin was apparently borrowed from another of Nottingham's directors Shane Meadows who used the technique in his earlier works, and like Meadows before him Mark has made a film that encompasses Britishness in a way that so many others have done before Loach, Leigh, Winterbottom etc and rather than simply copy he has built on a tradition that we should be proud of. The real shame here is that I think this film has an audience it's just finding it, I was first introduced to Shane's work amongst others by a late night channel 4 show called the shooting gallery which showcased the work of up and coming directors but this has long since gone and left a void for people to get their work out there. Hopefully there is someone out there who will see this film for what it is and give it a chance to be the 'first spark' in the careers of those involved because they are talented enough to go on to bigger things.
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come2whereimfrom20 October 2008
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appleknight17 June 2009I can't quite find the words to describe just how painful a film this is to watch. But I'll give it a go...
At a fairly busy industry screening at the Edinburgh International Film Festival today, Big Things had the audience optimistic after providing some great promotional material and freebies. Over the next hour and a half, said audience had every ounce of their enthusiasm drained from them. Those of us that didn't walk out after the first half hour exited the cinema looking ready to top themselves by the end.
This film is neither funny nor poignant. Normally in a badly conceived comedy, one can at least spot where the attempted jokes fell flat, but here there were no such guideposts. The only faint titter of laughter came from a scene in which one of the (criminally under-used) minor characters made a vaguely interesting facial expression. Perhaps the most jarring aspect of the film is the lead actor (who also co-wrote the script): a man so lacking in basic comic acting ability and any discernible charisma that every minute of his screen time is painful. He's in every scene.
To go into greater detail would take up more of my time than this deserves, so I'll keep it brief. The script is terrible. The production values are cheap (and not in a cool, low-budget kinda way). The lead actors are talentless. And the biggest joke? The marketing material quotes an IMDb review of the film which sounds more than a little biased. That same review compares the director's work to that of Leigh, Loach and Winterbottom: a sickening, self- indulgent statement that is frankly unforgivable and delusional in the extreme.
Don't believe me? By all means go and see this film, if it ever screens again. I dare you to stay in your seat beyond the first half hour. -
projectcyclops20 June 2009Mark Davenport's first feature film comedy 'Big Things', apparently took three years to get made and involved many regional funding bodies, several separate periods of production and generally a lot of hard graft on the part if it's cast and crew. The film is about a young cycle courier called Richard. He decides one day that he'd like to make a film about a talented runner who dies, has a statue of him erected by his admirers, only for his biggest rival to be crushed to death underneath it while attempting to drill it to pieces. He dubs his less-than-bright best friend Ray producer, hires a cast of amateurs and gets to work. A lot has been made of the parallels between the real production and the one portrayed on screen, which typically goes awry with comic results.
Only the results aren't in the least bit comical, in fact, along with being one of the worst films I've ever seen, it's also one of the most downright grim and depressing. Nothing whatsoever works here and I can't help but wonder why it was chosen for this years EIFF line-up, I can only assume it's to acknowledge and reward some the struggle it took to get it made in the first place.
So we have Richard, played by Tony Claassen, who also co-wrote the script and is as good a comic actor as I am an astronaut. He also starred in 2003's One For The Road, with Mark Davenport, which I have also seen and which is wretched, but I digress. Richard's a simple minded and selfish cretin who ignores his girlfriend's pleas to meet his family and bellows contradictory instructions to his horrified crew; all of whom seem to have creepy mental problems or a below average IQ. Part of the proposed comedy in the film comes from how inept the characters are in their roles as filmmakers and actors, which makes me wonder why on earth they humour Richard at all. Keep in mind that he has no history or qualifications in film, nor even a passing interest (he makes up the plot on the spot when his girl introduces him to an industry type, putting her position on the line for this complete idiot). His family are typically awful with an alcoholic mother, depressed father and loathsome little brother, but he dutifully sits out Sunday lunch and the worlds most depressing birthday party with them (which means that we do too). His best friend, who slaughters chickens for a living, can barely talk he's so stupid and this is supposed to be hilariously funny when it's rather more awkward and depressing to watch, and things begin to unravel as everyone loses interest in whatever it was they were supposed to be doing in the first place. At one point a character who has been repeatedly hired, fired and re-hired over and over, smears his own faeces onto Richards front door and I'll be damned if we didn't get treated to a close-up of Richard cleaning crap for a few minutes. What is it they say about polishing a turd? This scene more than any sums-up how loathsome Big Things really is, and the crap smearer himself is played by... Mark Davenport! Hoho! What a crazy cameo!
Devoid of skill as well as laughs, Big Things is badly shot with many scenes simply out of focus and lighting schemes changing between character shots. This is pedestrian film-making at its most shoddy. Towards the end of the screening my inner voice was screaming, "END! END YOU MONSTER!! DAMNIT!" As if I were a particularly outraged version of Crow T. Robot. The denouement, such as it is, didn't even make sense. After his father regales Richard with the story of his biggest regret (not sending his novel to a publisher) he is inspired to finish his film, only to discover that everyone involved has moved on and isn't interested. So he goes back to work and bumps into his now ex-girlfriend who actually gives this guy her new number. Well dear, it's your dishwater, you can soak in it. As the lights went up and a quiet and listless crowd of press and media shuffled out the door, clutching the small plastic wheelie-bins full of cheap chocolate that we'd been given on entering, I turned to my own ex, who had come to cover this film too. We enjoyed a bit of chat about how amazingly bad 'Big Things' is, which was actually quite nice.
1/10