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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Oh dear..., 22 April 2003
Author: Horns555 from Brixton, London

Where do you start with a film like this?

I'll try to be nice. Theres a few good ideas flying around here. The use of archive material is quite effective. Some of the cinematography is nice. Erm, the music's ok.

As a whole though, its a failure.

I wasn't expecting a lot - I rented this film purely because I live in the area portrayed. And thank god I do, as for the large part it was only being able to go 'oh look, thats suchandsuch street' that kept me viewing. And even then I almost turned it off before the end.

So whats so wrong here? First and foremost, the script. Its appalling. Character, plot, atmosphere, everything is sacrificed to a woefully misguided attempt to be cool. Every single character speaks in an immensely irritating 'street' style that utterly fails to ring true. The setting is a failed attempt to create a disperate group of 'crazy' characters around a 'cool' location. With good writing and charismatic acting this kind of thing can work (eg 'trainspotting'). For an example of how this could have been done in Brixton, check out 'Milk, Sulphate and Alby Stavation', a novel by Martin Millar. Set in Brixton, and more 'far out' than anything here, yet it still rings far truer.

The plot is poorly conceived, and eventually disintegrates into characters moving seemingly at random from one location to another. Eventually some plastic cockney gangsters turn up as the filmmakers throw some Guy Ritchie into the mix in the hope that it will impress someone.

Although it's not neccessarily a bad thing for a film to fail to resemble real life, the postcode title and archive news material would suggest that the filmmakers are attempting to reflect the real brixton here. Once again, they fail. The real Brixton does have its fair share of (mostly self-proclaimed) funky scenesters, but they're hard to spot among the desperate drug addicts, pushy dealers, aggresive petty criminals and put-upon locals trying to keep their head down and get through the day unscathed. To make a film about this region which either ignores or glamourises the overwhelming social problems present is ridiculous and irresponsible. If the film is intended as fantasy, then why tie it to a real place and a real history?

In the end though, I would happily overlooked all this if the film had entertained. Although the start is fairly promising, boredom soon sets in, followed by disbelief.

How some other reviewers found this film enjoyable is hard to understand, although the fact that most of them mention drugs in their reviews perhaps goes some way towards explaining. If you're a teenage male who thinks drugs are really really cool then you might get something out of this mess, but even then I'd imagine you'll be waiting for it to end by about halfway in.

To sum up - this film tries far too hard, and fails at virtually everything it tries.

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Awesome drugs movie, 8 February 2003
10/10
Author: Sparky-Van-Dam (splitleggedmoonsault@hotmail.com) from Shropshire, England

From the get go this film does not let up. As it says on the front it's Trainspotting meets Pulp Fiction, and is thoroughly gripping throughout.

The characters and plot line are very interesting and provide great humourous moments, as they meander around the streets coming towards the dance club/church where they all finally end up.

Perhaps the best thing about the movie is the pulsating soundtrack, with a tremendous variety of dance music genres, along with great one-liners, such as the mention of 'penguin acid trance.'

The direction is interesting, and the layout of the scenes and various different set pieces are all colourful and add to the movie. The script is good, and the actors thoroughly excell in their roles.

There are many subtle similarities betwen this and the classic Human Traffic, and it takes elements from a variety of other films.

Its also a real eye-opener for non-Acid-trippers, as well as being a pleasing journey into the world of pill-poppers for those who do eat Disco Biscuits!

One of the best low-budget independent films around, very worth while checking out.

10/10

SVD

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Much better than human traffic!, 2 June 2002
7/10
Author: Elektr0n1k from Rotterdam, Netherlands

We really rented this DVD on a gamble - I hated human traffic and even though the cover of SW9 said "trainspotting meets pulp fiction" (usually speaking this assures you that the movie is bad ;) - we went for it.

The beauty of this movie lies not in the story, but more in the total production, the characters and the excellent music. It all makes you experience the life of these clubbers and scammers in a really authentic way. Some parts of the movie even reminded me of (the far superior) Requiem for a Dream.

All in all it's a great movie that will certainly appeal to anyone who ever ate Disco Biscuits :)

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
great movie, multistory, great music, spaaaaaceman...., 1 April 2002
10/10
Author: technot from Bergen, Norway

Absolutely great movie. Multi story happenings, which all have their end point at a rave party in a church somewhere in London. One guy on acid without his own or anyone elses knowledge, spaceman! He's flowing .... Comedy, drama, crime, ... hard to place this movie in one catagory. 10/10 movie without a doubt!

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Not such a bitter pill to swallow., 18 October 2001
6/10
Author: adam (adamdbisset@hotmail.com) from Dundee, Scotland

Set chiefly in squalid locations - squats, hang-outs, and semi-derelict buildings - and featuring a cast of pushers, crusties and skammers, SW9 is concerned to show how the drug culture can be equally alluring to parents, professionals and religious figures - with 'respectable' family or professional backgrounds.

Archive and media footage is used to paint a great picture of the colour and cultural history of a particular part of South London, and to reinforce the film-makers' concern with British and international political issues.

I enjoyed the restraint and narrative pace of the film and I particularly loved the twist whereby we discover something about a character we might have taken for granted.

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An overlooked film, 26 November 2007
8/10
Author: Bex Young from Uphall, Edinburgh

I had never heard of South West 9 before, and bought it last week after I heard Stephen Lord was in it (one of my favorite actors, he has a small role but he's the best!) as it was only £1.80 from Amazon I was surprised to find a decent film - certainly better than many Hollywood and even British films released recently. I don't know why its such an unknown film. The plot is fairly straightforward, although some of the flashback sequences are rather annoying. The characters, although not likable are interesting and u still feel for them. There are a lot of drugs in the film, but not glamorised or shown judgmentally. I'd recommend this film to anyone - its entertaining and, I think rewatchable.

xx

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Am I alone in hating this movie, 30 April 2007
1/10
Author: hc74 from United Kingdom

This is possibly one of the worst films I have ever seen. The plot and characterisation is clumsily handled. There isn't one character you feel sympathy for and all in all I felt that the film lacked charm or warmth. All of the characters felt like sketches and not real people you could identify with or feel empathy. The multi plot storyline popularised by Guy Ritchie is used to no real positive effect. The message of crack addiction ruins lives whilst unsettling was sanctimonious. Saying crack addiction is a not good for you is like saying the Sun is hot. The depiction of Brixton was passé and out of date. The film makers made Brixton look like something out of the early 90's. I sat through 2 hours of monotonous rubbish and I wish I had listened to my partners requests of wanting to hire You Me and Dupree instead. I am struggling to find any redeeming qualities about this film. I can safely say that I would live a happy and content life if I never laid eyes on this film again. Rubbish with a capital R.

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A brilliant insight into the messed up world of drugs, 31 January 2005
10/10
Author: R H from United Kingdom

I saw this film after being told about it by friends, and now it has to be one of my favourites. If you are a slightly adventurous or inquisitive person, then you will enjoy this film. It warns people about the dangers of drugs if taken too much and has certainly put me off ever taking LSD. With this film, you get to see the world for what it is. It may be slightly messed up but, at the end of the day, thats life. I think some people dislike this film just because they see people that take drugs to be bad people, which is not, in the vast majority of cases, true. Some of the characters may not have been that likable but all characters in films are generally exaggerated. The film is quite weird (mainly due to the absolute head-f***ed characters), but is kept bearable with a lot of humour. So if you're up for a trippy, funny film..go for this one.

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1 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Join the dots, 23 September 2002
2/10
Author: EddieMink from Netherlands

This movie is by no means truly awful. It just often feels like it. It is directed with a real verve, and there are one or two genuinely fresh touches which threaten to lift it into the same area as something watchable. But at the end of the day, the one word that describes this movie accurately is "stale".

The "script" is a horrible misfire. It tries (and fails miserably) to:

*Be hip

*Contain likeable characters

*Rip off Pulp Fiction / Human Traffic / Anything you can imagine

*Be profound

So. How do you build a film on foundations like that?

Exactly. You can't. What more can you say?

It looks nice, some of the better (Who the hell cast this movie?!) actors try hard, and the locations ring far truer than the whitewashed London of, "Notting Hill".

But trust me, you'll be bored.

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1 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
you would have to be off your head to miss it, 14 February 2002
7/10
Author: Paul Woodward (Paolo-11)

From the makers of Human traffic comes its arguably superior accompaniment. SW9 like human traffic has a plot evolving round drugs and club culture, but this time it is accompanied by a more advanced plot, and better characterisation. This film will not leave you grinning from ear to ear and grabbing for your pills, but it is guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat. SW9 gives a honest and uncompromising view of the pros and cons of inner city life, which has rarely been conveyed on film before. This has got everything you need to keep you entertained for a couple of hours; humour, tragedy, and a clever plot, all to the sound of a banging sound track, from super star Dj Dave Pearce. Who needs big budget Hollywood movies, when the British are producing movies this good!

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