Sugarhouse (2007)

Am I Missing Something?

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

I think this film deserves all the credit it seems to be getting.Well-written, superbly directed and very well acted by all.I was particularly impressed by the three leading actors, Steven Macintosh, Ashley Walters and Andy Serkis who was absolutely terrifying as the psychotic, machete-wielding,ultra violent thug. Set in what is called in the UK a "sink estate" i.e a social housing estate where crime and violence abound, the film accurately depicts the ethos which prevails there.For many people illegal drugs are a way of life, either buying, selling or stealing them and violence within and outside the family is the accepted norm.Police officers are not allowed on these estates on foot and often any response by the police will consist of not less that two patrol cars.I remember that as a naive young lawyer I had to go to one such estate to interview a man who had been involved in a motor accident.When I left his house, my car was surrounded by a group of about twenty youths all carrying bottles, knives and wooden clubs.They thought I might be a "copper" - a policeman.Not a happy memory. So, well done to all involved in making this realistic, gripping and ultimately very sad film.Definitely not for the faint hearted.Don't take your mum.

Having seen the play Collision at The Old Red Lion some years ago I was interested and exited to see this film version of one of the best contemporary bits of theatre I have seen in recent years. Where the play was taut, tense, real, funny and ultimately moving the film is flabby, hard to follow and ultimately unbelievable.The film never makes its mind up if it is a serious drama or an urban caper. Consequently it feels unbalanced. The performances echo this; ranging from 'real' to totally cartoon like. Somehow the simple plot ends up being hard to follow and the tension of the three way confrontation is totally lost.The play made you laugh but at the same time kept you on the edge of your seat - however the film has no humour at all. Where did all that wonderful, very funny and also poignant dialogue between the crack head and the middle class character that was in the play go to? Perhaps in the hands of a Ken Loach this film would have worked better than it does. As it stands it feels like a total let down of what it could have been.What a shame.

There are no scenes in this movie- just mainly ONE SET of a warehouse area. That right away tells you this movie has no budget, and a variety of other moments show you this is a shoe-string budget affair and the storytelling suffers as a result.This is the story of a man who meets up with a Jamaican crackhead to try and buy something. Unfortunately several other people want to have that something as well and then the conflict begins. The man's unbelievable continual participation in these follies is supposed to be a sign that he is a man on the edge but it is more of a sign that this plot is unrealistic and idiotic to boot. Anyone else would just turn heel and go home- take their business elsewhere.At various moments during the movie you will be wondering why the man doesn't just go home and cut his losses- this is the failure of the plot. If it was any good we wouldn't be continually groaning - oh god.. just GO HOME! The movie seems like it has some sort of retarded message about how revenge just injures yourself and they are willing to bend the plot in unrealistic directions to try and get that point across.Extremely unsatisfying and not on par with Snatch, Lock stock and two Smoking barrels or trainspotting- don't let anyone fool you into thinking this play on film is worth seeing- it's a piece of boring one-set crap.

I got an invite to see a Preview screening of Sugarhouse Lane last Wednesday & it was a well attended affair in a Hotel screening Room.The film is set in London, but not the tourist type London you'll have seen in most British Films. Thankfully there's no shot of 'The Gherkin' building which seems to have plagued all films set in London since around 2000.Most of the action (if thats the right word) takes place in around a derelict warehouse in/or around a Council estate. D takes Tom to this place in order to do some business but has other plans. Unfortunately this is were the films Stage origins let it down because, the film becomes wordy & rather confined to this single location. The film is beautiful to look at, the DoP should be very proud of themselves. I saw the film in the company of a Film Director and that was a comment he agreed with. Look out for the final Crane shot at the end of the film which is just great..As to the performances, there's a really great performance from Ashley Walters as D a Crack Addict/Hustler. IMHO it much more than the clichéd "Blackman Druggie" part British Black actors are asked to play. It's a really convincing turn as an addict up there with Willie Ross's Drunk Father in 'Rita, Sue and Bob Too' and Samuel L. Jackson's performance in 'Jungle Fever'. There's also a good performance from Andy Serkis as Hoodwink a Northern Irish hard man. Oh, look out for the girl who plays Hoodwinks girlfriend I think in the titles she's called 'Pregnant Girl'. She's in the film for no more than 5 - 6 minutes tops but there's something really striking about her. I must admit I was expecting something different but that said, I was pleasantly surprised. The film is much better than say other films set in London with Urban theme's like 'Breaking and Entering'. A film well worth having a look at when or if it gets a UK Theatrical release.