I discovered Clubbed by chance when I came across a copy promoting the release of the film on DVD in the office. That I had never heard of it is, in a way significant, in as far as it is an independent production without big studio backing and obviously only had limited promotion when it was first released in cinema. Or at least limited promotion of which I was unaware. That is a shame, because it isn't half bad (as we Brits tend to understate), and deserves a wider audience. Briefly, it is the story of a man who discovers courage and self-respect. Mel Raido is that man - Danny - a factory worker in a dead-end job who has been divorced by his wife and dotes on the two daughters he can only see by arrangement and the goodwill of his wife. By chance he meets Louis, a nightclub bouncer who is passionate not only about boxing but the psychology of violence, fear, warfare and 'fighting with fighting'. He also meets Louis's two assistant bouncers Rob and Sparky, of whom Rob is by far the more sympathetic. Other characters include a local psychopathic hoodlum and his henchmen, and Danny and Sparky's wives. Every performance is strong and intelligent, and there is a horrible logic to how everything gradually spins out of control with Rob dying a horrible death, Sparky killing himself by drinking bleach and Louis serving 12 years in prison for an attack on Hennessy, the hoodlum. Invariably, Clubbed will be lumped together with other recent Brit films - the DVD bills it as a cross between Trainspotting and Layer Cake, but that is unfair. It is more intelligent than Layer Cake ever was and has none of the very dark - Scottish - humour of Trainspotting. If anything, my one criticism is that Clubbed lacks depth: we could have done with more characterisation and the establishment of character and motivation. If that would have made the film longer, well so be it, I, for one would not have complained. Given that British films, as a rule, have far more limited resources than Tinseltown productions, and given that independent British films have even fewer resources, Clubbed is exceptionally well-made. However, as with other Brit films, a certain self-consciousness comes over in as far as Clubbed knows that it will be likened to the other Brit flick lowlife gangsters films which have been made these past ten years and, more pertinently, that is where it will be assumed it target audience is. But clubbed is not just another lowlife gangster film. It is a film examining character, yet I sense that, with one eye on the market - which means the finances, which means not losing money - it feels it has to pull its punches slightly and cannot get as deep into an examination of Danny's psyche as it would have like to have done which, at the end of the day, would have made a good film even better. Finally, it has to be said that the portrayal by Mel Raido - who would be a shoo-in for the title role of any mooted biopic of the great Norman Wisdom - is superb, and that despite the necessary limitations of the script and direction, he gains sympathy for his character Danny, at heart a decent family man who has yet to realise his full potential.
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