Gypo is an interesting British film, once again proving good stuff doesn't have to come from Hollywood. A typical(?) British family lives a life of lies and deals with things as best they can until they meet a Chec mother and daughter who change their world. Gypo is apparently Brit slang for Gypsy/immigrants. This film proves that people all over the world are intolerant of others and are hypocrites. A couple of unexpected story swings made it a little more refreshing than the often mundane screen depiction of the disintegration of a family. Since the film took the same story from several points of view, it allowed you to better understand the characters background. I was glad that they really segregated the stories, otherwise it would have been confusing. All in all a good dramatic film.
10 Reviews
Unexpected plot development, but Czech refugees???? inauthentic
hajoda16 December 2007
Being a Czech myself, I feel kind of about this movie. On the one hand, it is very didactic, simple, sometimes pathetic, but at the same time: Be it so. It is necessary and it does the so-called "job":
1.look-at-yourselves-you-sometimes-dumb-and- blind-Brits-it's-never-black-and-white,
2.look-at-yourselves-you-damned-Czechs- you're-not-able-to-protect-your-citizens, and the Roma situation in your country is really BAD
3.or: cultural diversity is good, everyone has something to contribute with,
4.or: not everyone is a money-thirsty economical immigrant.
On the other hand, the family background and relations of these "Czech" refugees and their portrayal was something I had to cringe at. Truth is that I was wondering about Sirene's (Tasha's) accent all way long...and, with a great uncertainty, I concluded she must have been Slovak. (I didn't know she was English, so in a way her accent was persuasive, although it def. wasn't Czech) I assumed that her mother (Irina/Rula Lenska) must be Russian or Polish because these couple of words she uttered definitely weren't Czech, rather this Slavic universal mixture. The only Czech sentence she says is "miluju te" which means i love you, which is commonly used in English, but rarely amnong parents and children, rather for lovers. Another thing - Romanies tend to speak Romani language among each other, especially the older generation.
However, these are minor details I can overlook. But what the hell was this bunch of guys, both Sub-Carpatian Ukrainian and mafioso like looking, that came after them??? I can't think of a single place in the Czech Republic where gypsies would look anything like it, not mentioning the fact that after 40 yrs of communism there's zero left of their traditional life. I mean Romanies of course have their communities, but a vast majority of them dress like other Czechs. In Gypo even the caravans (altho for refugees) were there to suggest this traditional nomadic life. The way Tasha's mother dressed and decorated herself is rarely seen among the Czech gypsies.
If these refugees were from Slovakia or Romania, I would find it more credible.
1.look-at-yourselves-you-sometimes-dumb-and- blind-Brits-it's-never-black-and-white,
2.look-at-yourselves-you-damned-Czechs- you're-not-able-to-protect-your-citizens, and the Roma situation in your country is really BAD
3.or: cultural diversity is good, everyone has something to contribute with,
4.or: not everyone is a money-thirsty economical immigrant.
On the other hand, the family background and relations of these "Czech" refugees and their portrayal was something I had to cringe at. Truth is that I was wondering about Sirene's (Tasha's) accent all way long...and, with a great uncertainty, I concluded she must have been Slovak. (I didn't know she was English, so in a way her accent was persuasive, although it def. wasn't Czech) I assumed that her mother (Irina/Rula Lenska) must be Russian or Polish because these couple of words she uttered definitely weren't Czech, rather this Slavic universal mixture. The only Czech sentence she says is "miluju te" which means i love you, which is commonly used in English, but rarely amnong parents and children, rather for lovers. Another thing - Romanies tend to speak Romani language among each other, especially the older generation.
However, these are minor details I can overlook. But what the hell was this bunch of guys, both Sub-Carpatian Ukrainian and mafioso like looking, that came after them??? I can't think of a single place in the Czech Republic where gypsies would look anything like it, not mentioning the fact that after 40 yrs of communism there's zero left of their traditional life. I mean Romanies of course have their communities, but a vast majority of them dress like other Czechs. In Gypo even the caravans (altho for refugees) were there to suggest this traditional nomadic life. The way Tasha's mother dressed and decorated herself is rarely seen among the Czech gypsies.
If these refugees were from Slovakia or Romania, I would find it more credible.
Low budget intense look at a UK family and relations with refugees
robertemerald9 April 2019
I got through this movie on the strength of the performances. I'm sure it does reflect how many ordinary Britons live their lives and their attitude to refugees. I quite liked the many views of life in Margate. The roving camera style was very low budget, an almost documentary style of following the drama, almost as low key as found footage dramas. The story was sweet, which was OK, and in the end that sweetness ran counter to the brutal attitudes of some of the players. If you are looking for a very realistic look at one family's stuck-in-a-rut dynamics, and the effect on that family of coming in contact with a couple trying to settle after fleeing from Europe, then this is for you.
Some films just make you really proud of UK film-making . . .
Chris_Docker24 August 2005
Gypo (offensive slang for 'Gypsy') is a film that connects with the audience on the issue of racial tensions in a way that few films can. It does so by use of great British talent but more controversially using the 'Dogme' stylistic method of film-making. It explodes myths about refugees and exposes attitudes that need to be dealt with. It tells three sides to the same story, each with an equal intensity, and makes us care.
The Dogme experiment was invented as a backlash tool against the formulaic approach of Hollywood movies where anything can be 'made' to look real given enough money and special effects to trick the audience. Dogme tries to go back to the basics of art in film by a self-imposed discipline of ten 'rules' known as the Vow of Chastity. These include no added effects (such as added music, sudden time and location shifts, superficial action such as murders) and using only hand held cameras and basic lighting. The point is to force the attention onto the abilities of the actors especially and not let the director off the hook with quick-fix technical solutions or dazzlements. (For the complete 'Vow', go here: http://www.dogme95.dk/the_vow/vow.html) Working under that sort of pressure, very many Dogme attempts have been failures, but the successes have been very noticeable. The sense of 'reality' is so acute that a relatively minor plot development can have immense impact.
At one point as I watched the film, an understated emotion just hit me hard in the chest and brought tears to my eyes: one of the characters (Helen) has become friends with some Romany refugees who are being subjected to racial abuse. Making light of it ("They were going cheap in Asda"), she gives one of them a phone as a present, playing it down so as not to seem overprotective. I thought: I don't care if this is fiction or reality, that is a very real, poignant, caring, loving emotion she has just expressed. The film had connected with me in a way that went beyond suspension of disbelief, and it was worthwhile and uplifting to experience. A similar reaction happened as the plot explored more intense passions.
Helen is in marriage to Paul that could be described a long-term but loveless, "Don't wake the baby up," he says to her gently as he takes his conjugal rights on her - against her will. Helen feels used. Paul is at his wits end from poverty in spite of hard work. He blames refugees for taking people's jobs (even though he doesn't think it below him to use them when he sees fit). Helen feels she just clears up the mess for everyone else, including her unmarried daughter and granddaughter. Her life has no point.
Tasha, an attractive Romany Czeck refugee who wants to better herself, comes into their life, hoping to get a passport, citizenship and freedom things everyone else takes for granted. She is also in mortal fear of her Czeck husband and brothers who might come looking for her.
I watched Gypo at the UK Premiere and so was very fortunate to be able to speak to the cast and crew briefly. I asked one of the actors if working under Dogme had been different. There was an intensity in his voice as he recalled it he said, you can't fake anything! Normally there is a point in the script where it might say, 'you killed someone' but of course everyone knows it's not real because people don't actually get killed in films. With Dogme, if you really can't do it, it isn't done. The effect is the audience buys in to what is being presented with a lot more trust. (All of the script in Gypo is improvised, although this is not a requirement of Dogme technique.) I asked Paul McGann (who plays Paul) further what advice he would give an actor planning to make a Dogme movie. He replied, "Get plenty of sleep!" then added on a more thoughtful note, "and have an open mind." Dogme looks pretty weird, but with results like Gypo it is hard to knock it, so have an open mind till you've seen it.
Gypo produces a remarkably convincing look at a dysfunctional working class British family, with its goodness and badness, and it made me feel proud to be in a country that is producing such high quality, riveting cinema (and on such an incredibly tiny budget!) It unites art, gripping entertainment and responsible social comment in a way that few films aspire to and many less achieve. Director Jan Dunn cares about making movies in a way that shows integrity to the medium, responsibility within society, and a duty to give the audience every penny's worth of its ticket money. Her enthusiasm and skill provide a role model for aspiring filmmakers to emulate. For all its subject matter, Gypo is one of the most moving and joyous films I've seen recently and probably the best British film I've seen this year.
The Dogme experiment was invented as a backlash tool against the formulaic approach of Hollywood movies where anything can be 'made' to look real given enough money and special effects to trick the audience. Dogme tries to go back to the basics of art in film by a self-imposed discipline of ten 'rules' known as the Vow of Chastity. These include no added effects (such as added music, sudden time and location shifts, superficial action such as murders) and using only hand held cameras and basic lighting. The point is to force the attention onto the abilities of the actors especially and not let the director off the hook with quick-fix technical solutions or dazzlements. (For the complete 'Vow', go here: http://www.dogme95.dk/the_vow/vow.html) Working under that sort of pressure, very many Dogme attempts have been failures, but the successes have been very noticeable. The sense of 'reality' is so acute that a relatively minor plot development can have immense impact.
At one point as I watched the film, an understated emotion just hit me hard in the chest and brought tears to my eyes: one of the characters (Helen) has become friends with some Romany refugees who are being subjected to racial abuse. Making light of it ("They were going cheap in Asda"), she gives one of them a phone as a present, playing it down so as not to seem overprotective. I thought: I don't care if this is fiction or reality, that is a very real, poignant, caring, loving emotion she has just expressed. The film had connected with me in a way that went beyond suspension of disbelief, and it was worthwhile and uplifting to experience. A similar reaction happened as the plot explored more intense passions.
Helen is in marriage to Paul that could be described a long-term but loveless, "Don't wake the baby up," he says to her gently as he takes his conjugal rights on her - against her will. Helen feels used. Paul is at his wits end from poverty in spite of hard work. He blames refugees for taking people's jobs (even though he doesn't think it below him to use them when he sees fit). Helen feels she just clears up the mess for everyone else, including her unmarried daughter and granddaughter. Her life has no point.
Tasha, an attractive Romany Czeck refugee who wants to better herself, comes into their life, hoping to get a passport, citizenship and freedom things everyone else takes for granted. She is also in mortal fear of her Czeck husband and brothers who might come looking for her.
I watched Gypo at the UK Premiere and so was very fortunate to be able to speak to the cast and crew briefly. I asked one of the actors if working under Dogme had been different. There was an intensity in his voice as he recalled it he said, you can't fake anything! Normally there is a point in the script where it might say, 'you killed someone' but of course everyone knows it's not real because people don't actually get killed in films. With Dogme, if you really can't do it, it isn't done. The effect is the audience buys in to what is being presented with a lot more trust. (All of the script in Gypo is improvised, although this is not a requirement of Dogme technique.) I asked Paul McGann (who plays Paul) further what advice he would give an actor planning to make a Dogme movie. He replied, "Get plenty of sleep!" then added on a more thoughtful note, "and have an open mind." Dogme looks pretty weird, but with results like Gypo it is hard to knock it, so have an open mind till you've seen it.
Gypo produces a remarkably convincing look at a dysfunctional working class British family, with its goodness and badness, and it made me feel proud to be in a country that is producing such high quality, riveting cinema (and on such an incredibly tiny budget!) It unites art, gripping entertainment and responsible social comment in a way that few films aspire to and many less achieve. Director Jan Dunn cares about making movies in a way that shows integrity to the medium, responsibility within society, and a duty to give the audience every penny's worth of its ticket money. Her enthusiasm and skill provide a role model for aspiring filmmakers to emulate. For all its subject matter, Gypo is one of the most moving and joyous films I've seen recently and probably the best British film I've seen this year.
Ambitious but frustrating
QuaiDuCommerce29 November 2007
Warning: Spoilers
I appreciate the artistic ambition that went into this film, but it comes out lacking in a number of ways. The subject matter is interesting and some of the acting really quite good, particularly the actress playing the mother. I also felt Tamzin's (daughter's) acting was better than some have given her credit for; she was playing the part of the grouchy teenager and she did it, in my opinion, well. However, here are my gripes, in no particular order:
1. One-dimensional characters, particularly the father. (He basically chomps a piece of gum and simmers with rage for the entire film). The problem didn't seem to be with the acting for the most part; it seemed more as though the plot left no room for nuance in any character except the Roma girl.
2. Incredibly cliché dialogue. I'm actually relieved to read the dialogue may have been ad-libbed, because it's painful to think dialogue this trite could have gotten rubber-stamped before it went to the actors. "Did you ever really love me"... "it's over"... "you're an ass"... ugh. For an improvised acting exercise, sure... for a movie that's being screened at film festivals and distributed worldwide? No way.
3. Time shifts, as delivered through the film editing, create much more confusion than they do intrigue. They're used at the expense of the tension that *would* build with a more linear editing technique. Some aspects NEVER seem to make any sense-- the continuity errors another reviewer referred to.
4. A conclusion that makes you think "Huh? How does that make any sense?" and then, the next day, you're still thinking, "Huh?" The director has not done a good job in making the characters seem truly "backed into a corner" when they need to appear so; instead their choices seem inexplicable.
5. Scene after scene, in the first half, in which the mother is on the phone, gracing the viewer with her one-sided, animated phone conversations. I started to feel like I was at a very uncomfortable lunch with a friend who wouldn't stop answering her freakin' phone. The phone dialogue is actually well-done and well-acted; there's simply way too much of it.
It's surprising to me that many of these problems weren't noticed, or changed, before the final edit. At the end of the day, a lot of it is a suspension of disbelief problem, and I expect the director was hoping we'd care enough about the film and the subject to just go along for the ride. However, most viewers have a sharper eye than that.
1. One-dimensional characters, particularly the father. (He basically chomps a piece of gum and simmers with rage for the entire film). The problem didn't seem to be with the acting for the most part; it seemed more as though the plot left no room for nuance in any character except the Roma girl.
2. Incredibly cliché dialogue. I'm actually relieved to read the dialogue may have been ad-libbed, because it's painful to think dialogue this trite could have gotten rubber-stamped before it went to the actors. "Did you ever really love me"... "it's over"... "you're an ass"... ugh. For an improvised acting exercise, sure... for a movie that's being screened at film festivals and distributed worldwide? No way.
3. Time shifts, as delivered through the film editing, create much more confusion than they do intrigue. They're used at the expense of the tension that *would* build with a more linear editing technique. Some aspects NEVER seem to make any sense-- the continuity errors another reviewer referred to.
4. A conclusion that makes you think "Huh? How does that make any sense?" and then, the next day, you're still thinking, "Huh?" The director has not done a good job in making the characters seem truly "backed into a corner" when they need to appear so; instead their choices seem inexplicable.
5. Scene after scene, in the first half, in which the mother is on the phone, gracing the viewer with her one-sided, animated phone conversations. I started to feel like I was at a very uncomfortable lunch with a friend who wouldn't stop answering her freakin' phone. The phone dialogue is actually well-done and well-acted; there's simply way too much of it.
It's surprising to me that many of these problems weren't noticed, or changed, before the final edit. At the end of the day, a lot of it is a suspension of disbelief problem, and I expect the director was hoping we'd care enough about the film and the subject to just go along for the ride. However, most viewers have a sharper eye than that.
Powerful Movie in New Dogme Genre
jgrafx27 August 2005
Just when it seems that cinema has descended yet again into the deep abyss of zero plot combined with tons of special effects performed by pretty boys and pop tarts with no acting abilities whatsoever to disguise the fact that it is trash, something new comes along to uplift the entire sorry state of modern film and restore the discerning audience's faith in the true art of the cinema. I attended just such a performance at the 24th August 2005 premiere screening of Gypo in the UK at the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) and found it to be a powerful dramatic piece (the first British one) from the recent Dogme genre of film making. According to its manifesto, Dogme rules reject special effects, scripted and formulaic acting, and films all scenes in ambient light to make the actors rather than post- production additions drive the plot. Told from the points of view of the wife Helen, the husband Paul and the Czech immigrant Tasha, the story of the disintegration of a working-class British family from Margate while encountering newly-arrived refugee immigrants, makes for some gritty, gripping entertainment. As the film covers the same events from three differing points of view, the plot is gradually fleshed out and brought to a most surprising conclusion. Nothing is as it originally appears. Be prepared to be surprised and absorbed completely in the unfolding, many-layered story.
Pauline McLynn, usually known for her comedic acting in the UK, gives a tour de force drama performance as the frustrated, ineffective-feeling wife Helen. One feels her frustration when her husband and teenage daughter use her in various ways and make fun of her attempts to find her inner creative self in sculpture classes. When she meets Tasha, we are allowed to see her caring and compassionate side in reaching out for those less fortunate still. Paul McGann portrays the simmering angry, repressed, frustrated breadwinner who hates change yet despises his limited, impoverished, meaningless existence of doing carpet installation day jobs. Alternating between stony silence and lashing out in bigoted epithets at "Gypos" whom he feels (incorrectly) take his jobs, McGann portrays a total bastard with whom one may still feel some sympathy. Perhaps, he might have filled some of the silent scenes with more lines, but his performance was generally quite solid. Relative acting newcomer Chloe Sirene, actually London-born, also gives a fantastic and completely convincing performance as the Romany Czech refugee, Tasha, struggling against ethnic hatred and pursuing male relatives to gain British citizenship, independence, and find her way in an impoverished and hostile area. Even though a teen the age of Helen's daughter, she shows great strength and resilience in the face of great adversity. The supporting cast also give very solid performances that add texture to the developing story line.
Hopefully, this excellent film will make its way into American theaters, at the very least the Art Theater circuit, in the next year. This deserving film definitely should be added to everyone's must-see list.
Pauline McLynn, usually known for her comedic acting in the UK, gives a tour de force drama performance as the frustrated, ineffective-feeling wife Helen. One feels her frustration when her husband and teenage daughter use her in various ways and make fun of her attempts to find her inner creative self in sculpture classes. When she meets Tasha, we are allowed to see her caring and compassionate side in reaching out for those less fortunate still. Paul McGann portrays the simmering angry, repressed, frustrated breadwinner who hates change yet despises his limited, impoverished, meaningless existence of doing carpet installation day jobs. Alternating between stony silence and lashing out in bigoted epithets at "Gypos" whom he feels (incorrectly) take his jobs, McGann portrays a total bastard with whom one may still feel some sympathy. Perhaps, he might have filled some of the silent scenes with more lines, but his performance was generally quite solid. Relative acting newcomer Chloe Sirene, actually London-born, also gives a fantastic and completely convincing performance as the Romany Czech refugee, Tasha, struggling against ethnic hatred and pursuing male relatives to gain British citizenship, independence, and find her way in an impoverished and hostile area. Even though a teen the age of Helen's daughter, she shows great strength and resilience in the face of great adversity. The supporting cast also give very solid performances that add texture to the developing story line.
Hopefully, this excellent film will make its way into American theaters, at the very least the Art Theater circuit, in the next year. This deserving film definitely should be added to everyone's must-see list.
If you've got some time to waste..
healingcolours23 July 2007
Gypo was a big disappointment. At the start of the film the screenplay was very unrealistic and I told my girlfriend about ten minutes in that if it didn't get better I would turn it off. I held out and when the story changed person it got a lot better.
Pauline McLynn outperformed the script, she is capable of far better things. However, despite her best efforts, she just couldn't convince that Paul McGann was her husband; they were a mismatch. The star of the show was Chloe Sirene, who pulled off the Czech accent so well that she had me convinced (it wasn't until I watched the DVD extras that I found out she was English).
All in all this is a poor film. I think the director was so obsessed with meeting the rules of the 'dogme' method that she was ignorant to the fact that people would actually have to watch it. Why make a film to comply with a set of rules when you should be making it to pleasure the viewer?
Pauline McLynn outperformed the script, she is capable of far better things. However, despite her best efforts, she just couldn't convince that Paul McGann was her husband; they were a mismatch. The star of the show was Chloe Sirene, who pulled off the Czech accent so well that she had me convinced (it wasn't until I watched the DVD extras that I found out she was English).
All in all this is a poor film. I think the director was so obsessed with meeting the rules of the 'dogme' method that she was ignorant to the fact that people would actually have to watch it. Why make a film to comply with a set of rules when you should be making it to pleasure the viewer?
A Fresh, Intensely Sensitive Look at Refugees and the Impact of Immigration
gradyharp28 January 2007
GYPO (the word is prejudiced slang for 'gypsy', those Eastern European immigrants settling in England) is a Dogma 95 production that works on every level. This film tells a story from three vantages of how a young girl from the Czech Republic impacts a dysfunctional working class family in England. The story is simple on the surface, intricately complex in the meaning, and extraordinarily well presented by a small independent group of dedicated artists.
A word about Dogma 95 films: originally formed by four Danish directors in 1995 with the premise of 'purifying film-making by refusing expensive and spectacular special effects, post production modification and other gimmicks to focus on the actual story and on actors' performances', there have been to date 84 Dogma films, the most celebrated being the Danish FESTEN (The Celebration). A Dogma film must be, among other things, filmed in color on location without extraneous light using a hand held camera without optical filters, have no music added postproduction, and the director must not be credited! GYPO fulfills all of these restrictions and despite the fact that this title page on Amazon names the 'director' as Jan Dunn, she is actually the writer and facilitator of the film.
The setting is England in contemporary times, the film is divided into three sections each of which tells the same story but from three different character's vantage. In HELEN we meet a family: the mother Helen (Pauline McLynn) is a somewhat hyper and distracted 'early grandmother' as her self-centered daughter Kelly (Tamzin Dunstone) has left her 'unwanted brat' infant in Helen's care despite the fact that Helen works nights in a supermarket and has one evening of freedom when she attends an art class; the father Paul (Paul McGann) who wades through the angst of life, not caring for his wife, hating immigrants who are flooding the island of England stealing jobs, and visiting prostitutes on the little money he makes laying carpets; wildly uncontrollable and angry daughter Kelly (Tamzin Dunstone) who is still without work to support her child and family; and son Darren (Tom Stuart) who looks on as his family is in shambles. Kelly brings home a friend Tasha (Chloe Sirene), an attractive sweet girl who has immigrated with her mother Irina (Rula Lenska) from the Czech Republic to escape the brutality of their husbands. Kelly gives Helen attention and kindness while enduring the brutal prejudices of Paul: her impact on the household is palpable. Helen's responses to her sad living situation is seen in a confrontation with Paul, told as she sees it.
In the second stage, PAUL, we see the same story from Paul's eyes - how he hates foreigners yet hires a street laborer from Iraq to help him lay carpet, paying but a pittance, and spending his time away from home mooching drinks and hiring prostitutes. The strain between Paul and Helen at home is explained in his thoughts and actions.
In the third vignette TASHA we learn more about Tasha's sad life, living with her mother in a trailer house with locked doors, fearful of their husbands' arriving to take them back to the Czech Republic, and basing all of their hopes on receiving passports making them British citizens. In this version we see Tasha's love for Helen physically revealed and how this intensely close bonding affects the near tragic results of Tasha's and Irina's lives. The ending is one of the most inspirational moments of revealing self-sacrifice and the human indomitable spirit on film.
Although the film is apparently unscripted (the writer sets the scene story and the actors spontaneously come up with the dialogue), the story (and obvious direction!) by Jan Dunn is phenomenally powerful in its apparent simplicity. The entire cast is superb, with special mention due Pauline McLynn, Chloe Sirene, Paul McGann, and Rula Lenska. The remainder of the cast, composed of both trained actors and untrained locals, give compelling performances. But the power of this film is the method in which the problem of immigration issues bring into focus prejudicial abuse and cruelly labeling people as types from strange places rather than accepting them as individuals with human souls. The film leaves the viewer breathless: it is just that powerful. For this viewer it is one of the finer films of recent years. Grady Harp
A word about Dogma 95 films: originally formed by four Danish directors in 1995 with the premise of 'purifying film-making by refusing expensive and spectacular special effects, post production modification and other gimmicks to focus on the actual story and on actors' performances', there have been to date 84 Dogma films, the most celebrated being the Danish FESTEN (The Celebration). A Dogma film must be, among other things, filmed in color on location without extraneous light using a hand held camera without optical filters, have no music added postproduction, and the director must not be credited! GYPO fulfills all of these restrictions and despite the fact that this title page on Amazon names the 'director' as Jan Dunn, she is actually the writer and facilitator of the film.
The setting is England in contemporary times, the film is divided into three sections each of which tells the same story but from three different character's vantage. In HELEN we meet a family: the mother Helen (Pauline McLynn) is a somewhat hyper and distracted 'early grandmother' as her self-centered daughter Kelly (Tamzin Dunstone) has left her 'unwanted brat' infant in Helen's care despite the fact that Helen works nights in a supermarket and has one evening of freedom when she attends an art class; the father Paul (Paul McGann) who wades through the angst of life, not caring for his wife, hating immigrants who are flooding the island of England stealing jobs, and visiting prostitutes on the little money he makes laying carpets; wildly uncontrollable and angry daughter Kelly (Tamzin Dunstone) who is still without work to support her child and family; and son Darren (Tom Stuart) who looks on as his family is in shambles. Kelly brings home a friend Tasha (Chloe Sirene), an attractive sweet girl who has immigrated with her mother Irina (Rula Lenska) from the Czech Republic to escape the brutality of their husbands. Kelly gives Helen attention and kindness while enduring the brutal prejudices of Paul: her impact on the household is palpable. Helen's responses to her sad living situation is seen in a confrontation with Paul, told as she sees it.
In the second stage, PAUL, we see the same story from Paul's eyes - how he hates foreigners yet hires a street laborer from Iraq to help him lay carpet, paying but a pittance, and spending his time away from home mooching drinks and hiring prostitutes. The strain between Paul and Helen at home is explained in his thoughts and actions.
In the third vignette TASHA we learn more about Tasha's sad life, living with her mother in a trailer house with locked doors, fearful of their husbands' arriving to take them back to the Czech Republic, and basing all of their hopes on receiving passports making them British citizens. In this version we see Tasha's love for Helen physically revealed and how this intensely close bonding affects the near tragic results of Tasha's and Irina's lives. The ending is one of the most inspirational moments of revealing self-sacrifice and the human indomitable spirit on film.
Although the film is apparently unscripted (the writer sets the scene story and the actors spontaneously come up with the dialogue), the story (and obvious direction!) by Jan Dunn is phenomenally powerful in its apparent simplicity. The entire cast is superb, with special mention due Pauline McLynn, Chloe Sirene, Paul McGann, and Rula Lenska. The remainder of the cast, composed of both trained actors and untrained locals, give compelling performances. But the power of this film is the method in which the problem of immigration issues bring into focus prejudicial abuse and cruelly labeling people as types from strange places rather than accepting them as individuals with human souls. The film leaves the viewer breathless: it is just that powerful. For this viewer it is one of the finer films of recent years. Grady Harp
Edge-of-the-seat thriller and existential three-courser
cliffhanley_20 November 2006
This, the first undiluted Dogme production to be officially made in the UK, benefits right away from the use of tiny hand-held digi-cams, as quite a lot of the action takes place in the heroine's crowded council house or in the cramped trailer inhabited by two immigrants, Tasha (Chloe Sirene) and her mother Irina, played by the wonderful Rula Lenska.
The council house is run by Helen (Pauline McLynn), who having raised her own two kids now has to mind her daughter Kelly's (Tamzin Dunstone) baby, while coping with a husband (Paul McGann) who has clearly lost his lust for life and believes he has been short-changed at the existential check-out. This situation is first explored from Helen's point-of-view: Kelly's college chum Tasha invited in for tea but having to put up with dad's railing against 'them immigrants, crowding into this tiny country and taking our jobs'. In this sequence, the family is fragmenting, several red herrings are chucked at us from the start, friendships are forged, the whole family throws itself into change, everyone tries to find their own way of surviving but it all seems to end in despair. Then we get it all again, from Paul's side. A natural reaction to this might be 'hold, enough!' - but now we get to see whence some of those herrings, and several more puzzlers are laid like booby traps, which may be opened eventually in the 'Tasha' story. Although there was no script, the overall structure, resembling a jigsaw being put together, must have been mapped out - it doesn't look as if it was all done in the cutting room. It works very well as a dark mystery edge-of-the-seat thriller; and just as well as an exploration of the forces of circumstance and the impulses that we employ (or imagine we employ) to deal with those forces. CLIFF HANLEY
The council house is run by Helen (Pauline McLynn), who having raised her own two kids now has to mind her daughter Kelly's (Tamzin Dunstone) baby, while coping with a husband (Paul McGann) who has clearly lost his lust for life and believes he has been short-changed at the existential check-out. This situation is first explored from Helen's point-of-view: Kelly's college chum Tasha invited in for tea but having to put up with dad's railing against 'them immigrants, crowding into this tiny country and taking our jobs'. In this sequence, the family is fragmenting, several red herrings are chucked at us from the start, friendships are forged, the whole family throws itself into change, everyone tries to find their own way of surviving but it all seems to end in despair. Then we get it all again, from Paul's side. A natural reaction to this might be 'hold, enough!' - but now we get to see whence some of those herrings, and several more puzzlers are laid like booby traps, which may be opened eventually in the 'Tasha' story. Although there was no script, the overall structure, resembling a jigsaw being put together, must have been mapped out - it doesn't look as if it was all done in the cutting room. It works very well as a dark mystery edge-of-the-seat thriller; and just as well as an exploration of the forces of circumstance and the impulses that we employ (or imagine we employ) to deal with those forces. CLIFF HANLEY
Crass
kevin-47724 November 2007
I've given it 2, but even then I find it hard to justify such a high mark. I had high hopes for this film, having read reviews in which it was praised for presenting a refreshing and original take on the refugee/asylum issue. I'm sorry, but for me - a die-hard liberal who should have lapped up its messages - it simply didn't deliver. Stylistically, it was awful to watch: more goofs and blunders and continuity slips than I could count. The script was terrible: it seemed like a middle-class film-maker's idea of how working-class people speak and behave. It sounded like a workshop piece from a creative writing class. The characters didn't work, either. Not a single one of them was remotely believable - just a whole bunch of stereotypes. And despite a stellar cast, the acting was awful - which, I would guess, was largely to do with the direction, and not a little to do with the script. The whole thing failed to move me in any way - except when it came to ejecting the disc and taking it back to the shop.
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