carltonman

'Wish', the story of a young care worker who becomes increasingly drawn into the past of the elderly Chinese woman he's looking after, contains some very nice, atmospheric and cinematic moments, but is unfortunately yet another example of how seemingly every British (or, more accurately, Scottish) short film has to resort to dull cod-social realism in the quest for a 'gritty' feel. Does everyone in Scotland live on a run-down council estate? I don't think so, but Scottish Screen and the 'Cineworks' production fund that bankrolled 'Wish' would probably want you to think so.

Which is a shame, because, in the flashback sequences set in the woman's past in China, 'Wish' becomes a totally different film. The director probably thought that conflicting these scenes with handheld, gritty realism would have some kind of increased dramatic impetus, but instead it just drags a potentially interesting, eloquent short down into predictable, dull, depressing formula. We've seen all of this many, many times before, and we'll see it again, and again, and again......(** out of *****)

Pretty poor short film, produced as a BBC Scotland 'Tartan Short' in 2001. The film, about a man struggling to come to terms with the death of his wife, is warm at heart but is incompetently shot, directed and acted. The film contains a potentially nice dream/dance sequence that is at odds with the yawningly over-familiar 'gritty' acting and hand-held camera work. Along with the other two 2001 'Tartan Shorts', this feels as though it was drastically cut down in order to make the ridiculous 8-minute running time. But even if it had been twice as long, 'Manji' would still have been very third-rate.(* out of *****)

'Cry For Bobo' is almost wilfully incomprehensible. Its best gags are ripped off wholesale from The Simpsons' 'Krusty Gets Busted' episode, the remaining gags are insultingly bad, and the casting is ill-judged (note to filmmakers: when the sidekick's funnier than the lead your film's in trouble).

The production values are very high for a short film- the costumes, sets & cinematography are all superb- but this really begs the question: why do funding commissions insist on throwing huge amounts of money at mind-numbing garbage like this?

If you happen to catch 'Cry For Bobo' at a film festival, make better use of the 8 minute running time by going for a toilet break.

Yet another dark, depressing short British Film. I don't think I've ever watched a short film, or a British feature in years, that hasn't either been way too throwaway, or too serious for its own good, and 'Daddy's Girl' firmly falls into the latter category. Could anything be more depressing than sitting through ten minutes of watching a little girl standing alone outside in the pouring rain, in a downtrodden council estate, outside the run-down local pub that her alcoholic father is sitting getting drunk inside? What is even more depressing is that distributors seem to have an unending appetite for churning out these predictable, formulaic and deeply patronising short films, and that British films seem to only ever be like 'Daddy's Girl' or rags-to riches stories like the deeply over-rated 'Full Monty' or 'Billy Elliot', or gangster rubbish like 'Lock Stock...'. Shane Meadows does this sort of thing much better. 'Daddy's Girl' contains nothing of interest whatsoever. (* out of *****)

'A Room For Romeo Brass' is the best British film I've seen in years, if that doesn't sound like too much of a cliche. It's almost completely undefinable- just when you think that it's a real-life type of comedy, it switches to being extremely disturbing, and you don't quite know where you are for the rest of the movie (in the best possible way, believe me). Paddy Considine plays Morrell, the mysterious, child-like adult who befriends two schoolboys after coming to their aid when they become involved in a fight with some local lads. Their uneasy and strange friendship with Morrell continues after he becomes obsessed with the sister of Romeo(one of the boys, and the eponymous character), and the life-long friendship of the two boys is slowly driven apart as Morrell becomes increasingly obbsessive.

Like all of Shane Meadows films, it takes a look at the working-class world of his youth, but is unique amongst this type of British film because it's funny without being sentimental or condescending, and dark without being depressing. Meadows is certainly ploughing his own unique furrow, which kickstarted with the fabulous 'Twentyfourseven'(many cast members from that film, including Bob Hoskins, make cameos here). Paddy Considine is fantastic, and it beggars belief that this was his first ever screen appearance. His portrayal of Morrell is both sympathetic and terrifying and you can never underestimate his character for a second. The two boys are fabulous as well, and conjure up many memories of what it was like to be that age.

It's a real shame that this film didn't do better business upon its release, because it deserved to(not that that makes any difference on the film). Shane Meadows and his cast should be applauded for 'A Room For Romeo Brass'. It's fantastic. (***** out of *****).