This Is Not a Love Song (2002)

ridiculous rating

Am I Missing Something?

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Some have compared this film to Deliverance. I believe Of Mice and Men is more appropriate. Our leading man, Heaton, definitely loves Spike. It is irrelevant and immaterial whether that is a sexual love. It is the reason Heaton does not leave Spike. He needs him. They need each other. As brothers, as family, as their only connection to humanity. The setting, scenario, minimal cast all add up to a fine film. Frankly, I did not care what happened to the characters. But, I did care about what the film maker did with them. He did well with them. I spent some time wondering how the ending would resemble Of Mice and Men. The soundtrack and cinematography were compelling and intriguing.

watching this film for the first time, I couldn't make my mind up if i liked it or hated it. I thought that the film was slow and difficult to understand, as I was constantly trying to work out the relationship between Spike and Heaton. The story line was also quite boring and weird, despite my negative comments, I thought that the film was really touching when we realise in the end that Heaton has buried feelings for his close friend. we also feel sympathy for Heaton as we understand that he feels betrayed by Spike, this also makes us realise that in fact Heaton is the weaker character in the relationship. The ending of the film is weird yet clever, as it leaves you wondering whether Heaton is actually alive or not, which adds to the effect of confusion and sadness.

This is quite an intense character study of two men under extreme stress, centred around the concept of loyalty, that grows increasingly absorbing as it unfolds even if it doesn't quite have the depth that writer Simon Beaufroy (writer of The Full Monty) may have been seeking.First impressions weren't good as director Bille Eltringham seems intent on throwing every film-school technique he can think of at the screen. These distracting attempts to add some artistic merit to what is a fairly basic story come and go and, for the most part they are just that – distracting – but when they do work they do so extremely well. The idea of fixing the camera to the end of the shotgun wielded by the child-like Spike (Michael Colgan) works brilliantly, giving the impression that it is the weapon that is controlling the man and also emphasising the fear and confusion of the moment. But the use of blurry PoV shots as the men flee their pursuers is just annoying.Kenny Glanaan plays Heaton, a small-time criminal who collects his friend Spike from prison after a four month sentence. We are given no further information about the two men, other than the fact that Heaton hasn't visited Spike during his sentence, and has written him numerous letters without sending them. From this slender premise a story can wither and die or it can bloom, and fortunately this one blooms, helped immeasurably by terrific acting from the two leads and Eltringham/Beaufroy's success in refusing to allow the story to degenerate into some kind of men-on-the-run action flick. Spike and Heaton aren't hardened criminals, they're the pettiest of criminals, and they're traumatised by their accidental murder of a girl and the subsequent pursuit by a stubbornly determined band of locals (perhaps the film's weakest point is the way the police seem to simply melt into the background without explanation). Early in the film, the two men are often shown in extreme close-up, or are confined to one section of the screen by objects around them, and at this point they are confident and self-assured; it's only when they are out in the wide open spaces ('Is this the countryside?' asks Spike) that their confidence evaporates. It's a nice contrast, this idea that the wider the spaces, the closer the net is tightening around them.The film concludes with a moment of quiet, sublime horror that is incredibly powerful (and vaguely reminiscent of moments in Shane Meadows' Dead Man's Shoes), and a twist that, on it's simplest level represents both the reward for loyalty and the character traits necessary to adhere to its reality.

This is Not a Love Song.My one word summary of this film would be `Excellent'.It probably won't appeal to the mass movie watching public – it's afilm that forces you to participate. You observe, think, and question.Comparisons could be made with Deliverance (Topic/Theme) andperhaps with The Blair Witch Project for overall filming style.However this film stands unique against both.The cinematography effects (solarisation, freeze frame, blur etc)have been seen before but they are used most effectively in thisfilm to underpin the natural tension of the story.Acting is raw, menacing and utterly believable.The real theme of the film is about friendship; the title really givesthe game away. It's probably not the kind of friendship that most ofus have experienced or indeed would want to.It is a love song.