Neds (2010)

What a waste of my time!!!

Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Beautiful, moving film.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

John McGill is a bright student and hounded by a local bully. His father is a volatile drunk. His older brother leads a local gang. He is put into the lower class due to his brother's reputation. He gets out at the first opportunity by being the top student of the lower class. As a teen, John becomes more brash and more rebellious. He becomes a volatile leader of the local kids taking on all rivals.I like these two movies and they are two separate movies. John McGill as a kid is interesting in his struggles. Then the movie jumps in years to a teenage John McGill and he's a completely different character. The in-between years is missing. It seems like interesting things happened during that time but it's not on the screen. The teenage years do hold some fascinating violence but it gets a little repetitive and the movie goes on a little too long.

This is the sort that wins lots of plaudits and it's not difficult to see why . It's like jumping in to the Tardis and finding one self in a distinctive time and place so much so you sometimes find it difficult to believe that you're watching a mere film and genuinely believe you're stuck in the time zone it's set . Then suddenly the social realism of the film starts over doing things a little and the hyper realism starts detracting from the reality There does tend to be an element of British cultural bourgeois mind set called " The cult of the proletariat " . By this I mean the bourgeoisie have an instinctive intrigue of all things relating to the lower working class environment but have a dread of ever experiencing it . It's no coincidence that protagonist John McGill is academically gifted and instead of pursuing the academic dream of attending University starts descending in to a path of crime and self destruction . There's no convincing incitement for any of this and the fact McGill could have been someone instead of a no one is quickly forgotten . All this gives the impression that McGill's life is a Shakespearian tragedy From a technical point of view there's absolutely nothing wrong with Mullen's film and shows what can be achieved with a small budget . It's superbly and convincingly acted by everyone especially by Conor McCaron as John McGill . The problems lie in exaggeration . When the film was released Mullen was on record as saying what violent times the 1970s were and he's not wrong . The strap was commonly , perhaps too commonly used by teachers at school but yet would you ever hear a teacher swear ? The dialogue might be authentic but the Glasgow vernacular constantly using the F word and the C word and ending nearly every spoken line with " Man " will make it very difficult for a non working class Scottish audience and one suspects the working class Scottish proles may not be the target audience

Another powerful drama after The Magdalene Sisters from Peter Mullan, set amidst the adolescent gang culture of 70s Glasgow, and loosely based on personal experience. John McGill, played with both menacing brawn and sensitive intelligence by McCarron, turns his back on his academic successes in favour of his older brothers gang lifestyle after experiencing prejudices within society and hypocritical, violent authority figures.The film doesn't hold back on the violence that gang mentality stirs up, often contrasting the boys as softly spoken individuals from decent homes against their violent gang behaviour. It's genuinely disturbing to see a good kid at heart fall so low, but Mullan's real stamp on the material separating it from countless other grim rites of passage social realist films is an almost comic absurdity. Highlights include Gary Wells as a piggy-back offering teacher, a kicking from Jesus himself in John's lowest point, a safe passage through a group of genuine predators and in the films most intense sequence John turning into a cross between Travis Bickle and Freddy Krueger.It is to Mullan and his actors credit that such deviations in tone don't unbalance the powerful, realistic drama at the heart of the film, even if they start to confuse and put into question the main characters state of mind.

Saw this film as part of the Tribeca film festival in New York yesterday My biggest concern with this film is that it's too White washed. I have lived in that part of the country and now living in New York with friends from that part of the world I find it hard to digest that everyone in the movie was white. I do understand that its not set in current day but even back in the day ethnic groups existed. They would have called for a greater conflict had they been represented. The movie doesn't seem to a true representation.Also the has moments of being too cheesy or calculated. The Jesus scene is completed uncalled for and it almost feels its a scene belonging to a different genre. I was extremely disappointed to see this film part of Tribeca's programming because there is nothing unique about this film.