Okay, every review has a brief outline on what happens and here it is:
Johnny (David Thewlis) flees Manchester for London, to avoid a beating from the family of a girl he has raped. There he finds an old girlfriend (Lesley Sharpe), and spends some time homeless, spending much of his time ranting at strangers, and meeting characters in plights very much like his own.
That's basically it in a nutshell. Doesn't sound like much, does it? Oh you would be surprised! Johnny rants a hell of a lot but most of it is very provoking, especially when it comes to the Bible. But if you cant understand the Manchester accent or the English lingo, you're not going to enjoy this because you wont understand half of what is being said or half of what is going on!
This film is not for everyone. There is no basic plot to it which is basically Mike Leigh's style and I was asking myself repeatedly: Where is this story going?
Despite this, it is very funny. It is mainly dark humour but Johnny shows off a mixture of sarcasm, intelligence and dark humour. In the first 10 minutes, I couldn't stop laughing at his wit (even though I don't think it was meant to be THAT funny!)
However, it's also very sexually explicit. There are a lot of several rape scenes and the consensual scenes include Johnny treating his women roughly. This blurs the reality of what is rough consensual sex and rape.
Johnny is a confused person and David Thewlis carried this off brilliantly! It is his best role bar non. He acts the way he does because that's the way he was brought up. Johnny is a genius and has his say for the world but form the way he was treated (probably by his mother), he's given up on life and the world and gets by being sarcastic and bitter. However, he has a good heart and seems to have feelings for one person: his girlfriend, the one person who he doesn't try to mess around with (physically or mentally in the film!)
Some people are confused because of Jeremy and what part he has to play. I think what Leigh was trying to do was try and make a contrast between him and Johnny. Whilst Johnny shows compassion, Jeremy has no heart at all. It does not justify Johnny's rape or rough consensual sex- it rather shows that there are nastier people in the world than Johnny.
After reading reviews from IMDb.com I found that women tended to hate this film whilst men love it. I wont say that I loved it but it was a good film and a lovely controversial (and extremely thought-provoking one at that.
Marks: 8/10
Johnny (David Thewlis) flees Manchester for London, to avoid a beating from the family of a girl he has raped. There he finds an old girlfriend (Lesley Sharpe), and spends some time homeless, spending much of his time ranting at strangers, and meeting characters in plights very much like his own.
That's basically it in a nutshell. Doesn't sound like much, does it? Oh you would be surprised! Johnny rants a hell of a lot but most of it is very provoking, especially when it comes to the Bible. But if you cant understand the Manchester accent or the English lingo, you're not going to enjoy this because you wont understand half of what is being said or half of what is going on!
This film is not for everyone. There is no basic plot to it which is basically Mike Leigh's style and I was asking myself repeatedly: Where is this story going?
Despite this, it is very funny. It is mainly dark humour but Johnny shows off a mixture of sarcasm, intelligence and dark humour. In the first 10 minutes, I couldn't stop laughing at his wit (even though I don't think it was meant to be THAT funny!)
However, it's also very sexually explicit. There are a lot of several rape scenes and the consensual scenes include Johnny treating his women roughly. This blurs the reality of what is rough consensual sex and rape.
Johnny is a confused person and David Thewlis carried this off brilliantly! It is his best role bar non. He acts the way he does because that's the way he was brought up. Johnny is a genius and has his say for the world but form the way he was treated (probably by his mother), he's given up on life and the world and gets by being sarcastic and bitter. However, he has a good heart and seems to have feelings for one person: his girlfriend, the one person who he doesn't try to mess around with (physically or mentally in the film!)
Some people are confused because of Jeremy and what part he has to play. I think what Leigh was trying to do was try and make a contrast between him and Johnny. Whilst Johnny shows compassion, Jeremy has no heart at all. It does not justify Johnny's rape or rough consensual sex- it rather shows that there are nastier people in the world than Johnny.
After reading reviews from IMDb.com I found that women tended to hate this film whilst men love it. I wont say that I loved it but it was a good film and a lovely controversial (and extremely thought-provoking one at that.
Marks: 8/10