User Reviews

This is a piece of debutant film making at its best.

Oldman set about to create a gritty and colourful portrayal of the rough end of life in Saafff Lhaandan and in that respect he was f**kin sucessfull you bunch ah chaaaants!

The camera work is disjointed and initially appears clumsy, but the expertly chosen angles and focuses soon become enthralling. It is nicely gritty and rough around the edges. Take a special note of the excellent sound design - it really adds to the overall atmosphere of the cityscape Olman so expertly creates.

The narrative progression is pretty much non-existent. Like all realist films its not really about what is happening, but the broader issues exposed by smaller events within the film. These include some brutal moments from Winstone and also some heavy drinking/clubbing binges.

The acting is so good and so believable that I forgot I was watching a film - it is almost a documentary and those not familiar with the actors within the film may be fooled into thinking that is what they were watching.

Olman also introduces some subtle symbolism (the moment with the red balloon for example) but is never heavy handed or distracting.

Winstone and Burke really are stunning in this film, and the ending is a brilliant piece of ambiguity and hope. CHeck out Winstone's subtle touching moments with his daughter - it brings a tear to the eye.

Classic in the modern sense of the word.

"Nil by Mouth" is not so much a story as it is a slice-of-miserable-life snapshot of the lives of a working class English family which brings new meaning to the word "dysfunctional". Gritty and harsh, this film swirls like a cyclone of anger, violence, anguish, and regret around a handful of adult characters who suffer from alcohol abuse, spousal abuse, drug abuse, etc. presented in a drab and tightly cropped format with brutal reality. A worthy first directorial outing for actor Gary Oldman, this bitter drama offers some fine performances and startling reality but may not reward viewers with a strong enough plot to make the two hour watch worthwhile. For realists only. (B+)

this film is incredibly harsh. it took a while for me to get into it - accent barrier and a little too close to reality make it a tough one to watch. but it really is a great film - horrifying and depressing. i don't think i could ever watch it again, it is too hard.

kathy burke is great as is her terrifying husband. cheers to gary oldman for doing good quality work.

This is far from an easy movie to watch and is not really a good definition of `entertainment' (although it is disturbingly compelling). It's got about as much hilarity as `Monster's Ball', `Dancer in the Dark' and `Requiem for a Dream'.

There's not really a plot here. What we're looking at is a family in council housing - a poor, distraught family, torn apart by the people. Kathy Burke is Valerie, the long suffering wife of Ray (Ray Winstone). Ray is a drunken abusive man, haunted by his demons. He fights regularly with Valerie's heroin addicted brother, who cannot escape his own life style. Over this watches Valerie's mother, Janet, in a resigned fashion, lost to any real hope of something different. We get to spend some time with these characters, seeing how their lives develop. Unlike traditional movie structures we're not really building to a giant convergence of plot lines, a climatic final scene. Real life is not like that - it's a series of events, marked by occasions. This is the view the movie takes and it works well because it makes it far more credible than a final showdown involving a gun and a murder. What's even more interesting is that while Ray is `bad' he could not be quite considered evil - there's a darkness in him that he's fighting against. There's a great scene involving a telephone which brilliantly highlights how torn apart these characters are and how nothing is ever quite as simple as you would like to believe.

The acting is astonishing. I can't praise either Burke or Winstone enough. One of the reasons this movie is so unnerving is that the characters are believable - and this is due to the actors behind them. When Winstone's face becomes animated with range it really seems like he is ferocious, full of venom. You would race across the other side of the street from him, seeing the fury inside this man. Burke herself could have just played the demure wife but she adds far more complexity. Yes she is suffering, but there's a great hint of steel beneath her - shown in the delivery of a dialog, or the turn on a face. By not distracting us with pretty faces, director Gary Oldham manages to deliver actual characters. The energy - unflinching - delivered by them makes them seem horribly like people you know can exist within miles of your home.

Oldham himself shows a good directorial view. The movie uses a lot of hand-cameras (and presumably some unusual film stock) to get a grittier realism. This is aided by some excellent cinematography - the lighting is bleak, subdued, in keeping with the movie. Even the sunshine is pale, as if there's never really any hope to be had. The sound design is crisp, and generally minimalist - instead letting the camera and acting tell the story rather than forced manipulation via a composed piece. The set design also deserves a nod - the house around which a lot of the movie resolves has a real `lived in' feel. Too often Hollywood directors décor their house in a few luxury sofas and leave it at that. Here there's a real sense of a home with condiments and grit engrained in the walls. It all adds up the power. Ultimately though it is Oldham's unflinching depiction of the events that stands in the movies favour - the camera is close, it's there, you cannot escape through some banal metaphor (which is typical of most movies).

`Nil By Mouth' is more of an `experience' movie. It's a wrenching, arresting viewing that is sometimes very difficult to watch because you know there's a horrible shade of truth to it. It's not necessarily something you'd watch repeatedly (unless you've a shade of masochism to you), but it is something that will leave a little indelible mark on you as something to muse on. Definitely worth seeing - but be prepared. 8.1/10.

It's always a fun experience to watch an actors shift to the director chair. Such is the story behind Nil by Mouth, the directorial debut of Gary Oldman, one of the finest actors working today. Oldman himself does not appear in the film, but a whole collection of fantastic actors do instead. The film is a brutal story of a dysfunctional family living in London. This distraught and detached family struggles to stay together, having to battle one brothers heroin addiction, anothers short temper and violent tendencies, as well as the general debauchery that occurs within the lives of these people. This isn't a pleasant film and it isn't a happy film. It's a brutal depiction of London working-class districts and it will certainly disturb you to your core.

The brutality of Nil by Mouth is unheard of. The film is a non-stop stream of cursing, graphic drug uses, and despicable violence. The film never lets up on the atrocity, leaving you no time to catch your breath. It's a fast moving film; one that doesn't stop to explain things and doesn't spell everything out for you. It's a completely character driven story with more character development in it than actual events occurring. Yet, enough happens to make the film plenty interesting. It slows down towards the middle as it sets up for its somber ending that leaves you with a strange and uneasy feeling in your stomach.

Now, I'm always up for a great character driven story, but you have to be prepared for a lot going into Nil by Mouth. The thing is, the characters in this film are not likable in the least. They are the most despicable, deplorable, horridly atrocious people you've ever laid eyes on. Apart from them being sleazy and unattractive, they all possess the most unflattering personalities. The film presents a very strange family dynamic, having the characters constantly switch between love and hate for one another. Billy, the brother with the terrible heroin addiction, has his own mother give him drug money and also provides him with a place to shoot up. This seems like the most brutal form of motherly love until the two scream at each other a scene later, throwing the most horrendous profanities at one another. It is indeed some of the strangest relationships you could ever observe, teetering on being farcical at times, yet being sincerely compelling at other times.

Overall, it is hard to become attached to the characters in Nil by Mouth. They certainly tell a fascinatingly twisted story, but don't expect to find any sympathy left in your heart when it's all over. This film disturbs me more than entertains me, but that is obviously the point. It is so harrowing and so horrendous that I can't guarantee you will want to watch it again once it's over. I'm not sure that I do, but I don't regret watching it by any means. Gary Oldman needs to try his luck with directing again one of these days, because his first attempt has gone pretty well.

This is hellish domestic drama from director/writer Gary Oldman. It feels real because, for him, it was real, it was his life growing up in South London. Ray Winstone as the abusive Ray is amazing, as is Kathy Burke as Ray's wife and full time punching bag Valerie. Oldman employs a rough and ready style and gives the actors lots of room to move and react within the frame. The result is an incendiary experience, a film that leaves you gasping for fresh air and in awe of the superb performances, sharp cutting, great sound design and unapologetic subject matter. It doesn't angle for simple solutions to its powerhouse issues and isn't all misery, either. It's about strength and the the power of personal responsibility. Superb.

Oldman does well by his actors and the audience is indeed engulfed in the lives of these characters for the duration of the film. His relative restraint actually enhances the power of the events and every moment feels natural and the realism achieved is due to both his writing and the awesome work of the performers, especially Kathy Burke who won a well-deserved best actress Cannes award for her portrayal of an abused wife.

If the film has one shortcoming it's that the drama starts at point "A" and basically stays there for the considerable length of the movie. The audience learns everything there is to know about the characters in the first half hour or so and there's not much else to sustain dramatic momentum for the next two hours. Maybe that's part of the point but it all becomes slightly monotonous and the film could have used at least a bit of editing.

The words "gritty", "British" and "drama" usually and rightfully condemn a film to the Guy "Windsor" Ritchie hall of excrement . Having seen these terms applied to Oscar contenders like "Goodbye Charlie Bright", "Rancid aluminium" and "Love, honour and obey", I wasn't really expecting much from this film. Saying I was wrong would be a huge understatement. "Nil by Mouth" is an awesome achievement. A razor sharp dissection of a working class south London family that delivers the required punch on so many levels that you need to have a wash after watching it. It covers a vast spectrum of emotions that will see you (especially if you're British) laugh, cry and more often than not, hold your head in despair at witnessing an all too true account of what it is to be at the bottom of the British class system. It is unflinchingly brutal and somewhat depressing, yet at the same time shows how with guts, determination and a healthy sense of humour, people can survive even the most bleak and hopeless of situations. Kathy Burke is outstanding and Ray Winstone is dependable as ever, but Gary Oldman's screenplay and direction are the stars of the show. This script could stand on it's own as a fine social commentary on par, and not dissimilar from John King's "The Football Factory" and "Headhunters". Thankfully Oldman has also realised that in terms of direction, "gritty" does not have to mean the static, cold and quite frankly boring as hell style that so many British films have. The camera moves with a documentary feel energy, yet the slick cinematography keeps it from ever looking cheap. Quite simply one of the greatest British films of all time. 9/10

I WAS (allegorically) the Lil girl on the stairs watching it all, this film had me in tears literally, if you have been lucky enough NOT to have lived through this kind of abuse, rock on, but for those of us who have been there this is a shockingly accurate depiction, I cried all the way through (I used to have every Monday off school to get a new set of false teeth for my mother). This film is so close to the heart it is unbelievable, and I am only padding this out to make the minimum review length why should i need 10 lines of text why should i need 10 lines of textwhy should i need 10 lines of textwhy should i need 10 lines of textwhy should i need 10 lines of textwhy should i need 10 lines of text

I have a very hard time watching this movie. This is not a movie to put in for a relaxing night at home, as its very painful to watch. This is reality. These are situations that are happening right now in homes across the world.

This movie is extremely powerful in its portrayal of a working class British family, as the struggle with problems such as drug and domestic abuse. The acting is simply amazing. It practically transcends acting and you feel that you are watching real people struggle through these things. Its a reality show in which the people don't know they're being watched.

This film is a tough journey to take, as its very painful and emotional, but it is ultimately rewarding to sit through it and reach the conclusion.

Very highly recommended, but be warned, this movie pulls no punches and shows you life as it is.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Ray (Ray Winstone) has a criminal past, has had problems with alcohol and is now forming a drug habit that is making him paranoid and prone to domestic violence to his wife Valerie (Kathy Burke) who tries to hold the family together but ends up coming off more like a doormat. Meanwhile, her mother Janet (Laila Morse) is aware of Ray's son, Billy (Charlie Creed-Miles) and his escalating drug habit that is sending him off the rails. The film follows these despairable characters as they tredge along with their lives.

It is said that the British seem to enjoy being miserable, and that would include watching films that entertain them this way. Films like Nil by Mouth highlight this. It's a tale of a broken family, torn apart by crime, poverty, booze and drugs, the kind Jeremy Kyle would lap up like a three course meal. It is also essentially a tale of self destructive men, three generations apart and each copying the other, tearing a family apart and women trying to hold it together, despite not being strong enough. If you pick up a little of what it's about from the off-set, you can see it doesn't promise to be cheerful viewing from the start and it certainly doesn't disappoint in this.

It's true what everyone said about the performances, and the lead stars, Winstone and Burke, do deliver some great acting. We see Winstone lose it with his wife, beating her senseless after some more coke induced paranoia, breaking down during a phone conversation with her and unleashing a typical arsenal of f and c words when she refuses to let him see his kid. Likewise, in a private moment, we see Burke skillfully lose her composure on a staircase, the full impact of the night before kicking in.

This is another of those films where there's no 'plot' to follow, as such, just a real life feel of these hopeless lives carrying on from one day to the next. It's been acclaimed by many (including the Baftas!) but it really was just too grim and bleak for me. I have no right to criticize it for this, knowing what I knew about it from the off-set, but sadly this is how I found it. **

In Sturges' classic "Sullivan's Travels," a swank film director announces to his butler: "I'm going out on the road to find out what it's like to be poor and needy, and then I'm going to make a film about it." The butler snorts: "It you permit me to say Sir, the subject is not an interesting one. The poor know all about poverty, and only the morbid rich would find the topic glamorous." Love it or hate it, Nil by Mouth digs deep inside and never lets you go. Unlike Sullivan, Oldman had only to look inside himself to find his subject. He does an honest and remarkable job. Of course a film of this type is not going to win any Oscars - Oldman didn't make it to please anyone. Most will find this nihilistic and depressing, and they're right. Suffice to say, Oldman is a natural craftsman. If he continues to follow his heart and gut, who knows what else he might accomplish. A remarkable debut.

Having watched Ray Winstone star in Tim Roth's directorial debut, 'The War Zone', a couple of weeks back - where he played an incestuous father abusing his daughter - I thought there was a good chance of something similarly shocking on the way in this, Gary Oldman's debut behind the camera. I wasn't wrong. As one destructive scene follows the other, it is really worth making a mental note of trying to avoid everything to do with Ray Winstone when he's in a bad mood. He's one scary fella.

For all the epic scenes in this film though, there is some real indulgence on Oldman's part and "cut" should really have been yelled a lot sooner on a few occasions. The amount of times we see some loser addict shooting up gets ridiculous, Ray's breakdown scene with the phone and the mirror is well acted, sure, but goes on forever, plus Billy is allowed to talk AT LENGTH about some dog he had when he was a child. There are quite a few scenes which are dragged out similar to these - the editing just wasn't up to scratch, and the momentum drops sharply particularly when Billy is in the film.

And for all the world it seemed as though the ending would come following Val's speech to Ray outside the flat where she puts him firmly in place. Such a fitting ending I thought. But no. There follows a scene in the kitchen where everybody's having a laugh and playing happy families. Didn't fit at all.

I've given 'Nil By Mouth' 7 out of 10 - it is a heavyweight British effort that everybody should take a look at - but that doesn't mean I'd go near it again. Once is definitely enough.

I liked this films' authentic look.

I have middle class friends who describe this film as "depressing".

To me it was uplifting. It was great to see all these working class characters, even the horrible one, portrayed with a feeling of dignity and sincereness.

Not your average plastic movie. Real life, real emotions. I liked it, because it at last portrayed the life of the modern underclass with realism. The characters take over the story in this film, so if you like that, take a look. Thank you, Gary Oldman.

Nil by Mouth is proof that actor-turned-director for this piece Gary Oldman has an eye for grotty, grimy cinematography which he knows compliments his idea of raw; down-and-dirty, urban set films. His idea of dark, night-set streets and neo-realist inspired sets that encompass apartment flats, as the sorts of people that inhabit the screen are introduced to us, plunge the viewer into a world of anxiety; danger; near-poverty and a gross sense of unpredictability as we realise Nil by Mouth will not follow conventional narrative formula. Instead, it'll spend a lot of time with pent-up, aggressive males doing whatever it is they do. If there's a reason not to be blown away by Nil by Mouth, and this is linked to why I don't think Gary Oldman has directed much since, then it's because the film is a documentation; a hark-back to times and conditions of old brought into the 1990s. It's a basic re-telling of hostile people living amidst low-level living conditions more than it is a substantial study of anything.

This is not an eerie look into the life and world of a drug addict alá Trainspotting and this is not a study of one man questioning his identity and role within a 'group' further still within society alá The Football Factory, although the look and structure of the film, particularly the opening, will remind you of these examples. I'm not sure what Nil by Mouth is; perhaps a faux 'grab the camera and shoot on street level' urban drama that utilises necessary acting heavy weights to carry it; perhaps a very straight forward and simplistic look at life in a specific place at a specific time as the proverbial bottle of fizzy liquid is shook and shook before opened and just exploding in a fury of anger, activity and mess.

The film is about a collection of individuals living on a less than glamorous London housing estate, while it predominantly covers Ray (Winstone) and his no-nonsense, mess-about mate Mark (Foreman) with supporting turns from a number of others including Oldman's real-life sister Laila Morse, who he gets to swear a lot, (playing Janet) and Valerie (Burke) who's Ray's wife. Oldman peppers the opening twenty minutes, which turns into the opening thirty and then onto the opening forty before quickly becoming an hour; with a number of seemingly random and unconnected incidences. Characters go to a pub; some try to acquire drugs; others go to strip-joints whereas in other scenes, characters target and set up organised attacks on other men whom, in rather a sick 'in joke' on the writer's behalf, step out of a fast-food restaurant named 'Wimpy'.

Ray and Mark drive the early scenes almost entirely on their own. The scenes are accompanied by the sorts of dialogue that land you in the world within a film, creating the illusion you're in the room with them, or that you've seen and heard people exchange words like this before. The things these people talk about are pithy, undemanding and feel improvised in their realism and the effortless delivery on the performer's behalf. We see, or observe, these people through the wary and watchful eyes of Valerie and a young man called Billy (Creed-Miles); we see them as they see them: we are made aware of their presence and what sorts of people they are as they drink with us; dine with us; drive us and occupy our living rooms. But Nil by Mouth is one long, and I think somewhat deliberately, arduous building and building to a certain scene much later on. We are plunged into the fire of the world and these people that inhabit it, but it's a one note tune; setting up the characters and the setting and everyone's relationship to one-other and the setting; but we don't get much else afterwards.

After an hour or so of Mark and Ray and friends standing around talking of things they've been up to lately; swearing a little; smoking and cursing the police whenever a siren revs up in the distance, we get a little tired. Nil by Mouth has no direction bar the scene it gives us involving Ray and Valeire nearer the end. Trainspotting and The Football Factory give us an equally street-set, low level look at a 'group' of people you would never, and I mean never, want to get involved with or interact with. But as it progressed its characters, peppering their journeys with light comic relief, towards an inevitable confrontation with their way of life ("Was it worth it?" in The Football Factory and "Choose life" in Trainspotting); we were interested and engaged with these low-lives as a seemingly random passage of events propelled them through their existences. If Nil by Mouth could be compared to a piece of this ilk at the time, it'd be 1999's Human Traffic; a film that nothing more than documents the lives of specific no-body individuals; the protagonist of which, horrifically, just needed a good sex session to figure everything out. Whilst it isn't as bad as Human Traffic, it's as disappointing.

Surprinsignly and annoyingly, Nil by Mouth goes on a bit more after the 'scene' has occurred. It would've been better if it'd ended after we get the obligatory 'angry male trashes room' scene; a scene that carries no dramatic weight in cinema anymore. The film looses all interest and engagement after 'the scene'; descending into a series of nicey-nicey interactions around which one character is jailed for involvement in drugs giving off a false sense of actual closure. If the film is anything at all, then it's a few would-be neo realistic scenes that are carried by some great dialogue and some two dimensional characters being brought to life by talent that can do better anyway. The rest is somewhat of a chore.

What a well made and stunning movie of life on a British council estate of a family with a violent father and poor cow mother , one of the types of women that gets a regular beating from the old man and yet still go back to him. the performances by Ray Winstone and Kathy Burke should have got them award after award. with more cursing than I've heard in a movie, although its typical for a low class family in those types of situations, with a drug using , stealing relative and strong acting from Laila Morse (garys sister) a must see movie, but make sure the kids are in bed !! the movie also has a great soundtrack which I cant find anywhere !

Grey monotonous apartment blocks, unemployment with relative poverty, people with addictions and impaired physical and mental health - those phenomena are common to rich countries as well, but those who can try to avoid it, not notice it, and most "different" ones have no idea about life perhaps some miles away. Neither do I, all this was a kind of cruel documentary to me, apart from the fact that I recognised some great British actors (Ray Winstone, Kathy Burke). True, performances were great and realistic, but everything was nasty, even the weather, and following people with lost or vain hopes and odd forgiveness is frustrating rather than interesting. As for Gary Oldman's debut as a writer and director, it is good, but I would have preferred a plot instead of gloomy narration.

If you're going to see this film, prepare yourself for a smack in the mouth. Sheer brilliant camera techniques, realistic dialogue and the monumentally commanding presence of the actors; And that's all the actors, not just the main ones. This is one of the few films I've ever given 10 out of 10 for. Burke and Winstone wowed me from the start. It's a must see. Watch for more by this Director - Gary Oldman.

Ray Winstone is outstanding in Gary Oldman's powerful, hard hitting drama exploring the down-trodden lives of a working class family in the darkest parts of London. Painfully realistic and drawing on Oldman's own childhood experiences, Nil by Mouth is an honest and frankly nihilistic depiction of shattered existence. The intrusive camera work is all-encompassing and the dialogue, improvised and aggressive. The overall melancholy mise-en-scene is dark and disturbing and makes the film at times very difficult to watch. Despite this, Nil by Mouth remains an inaugural part of the recent British cinema canon, with the film delving into the violent underbelly of our contemporary society.

7/10

I first watched this when it came out in 1997. It was pretty powerful to me, and I just couldn't watch it again for a long time. I was young and dumb then, but all I could remember was my boyfriend at the time fell asleep and I bawled my eyes out.

So this week I finally geared up to watch it again...

And it smashed my heart into pieces again, with no less impact... This film is so hard to write about. Tin-Pot dictators who are kings of their own castles, and the women who support them.... What broke my heart was our 'heroine' played by Kathy Burke, the victim of her nasty, violent husband... He beats the sh*t out of her, she throws him out, he begs to come back, and you are just f**king cheering her on.... The next scene, he's back, all's good, no big reconciliation scene... This could have been the movie of my childhood... Drama, police, strength, followed by some mystery process and everything back to 'normal'. I felt like Oldman was watching my childhood then put it on screen.... This film has stayed with me for 20 years and I have never seen a truer portrayal of casual domestic violence. Kathy Burke was f**king out of this world as a strong, yet ultimately trapped woman, and Ray Winstone was a tour-de-force, literally, as a man who doesn't understand his own motives, who never will..... For me this is THE definitive British domestic violence film

This is a true to life smash-mouth tell-it-like-it-is story. No glamour. No glitz. No bull. Someone mentioned it's like a kick in the stomach. Boy, is it. This is no feel-good movie. But I felt closer to these folks than most movie people. They're real. Not pretty, but definitely real. If this movie makes it to your screen, see it. You should be able to understand the King's English. This film is not the best ever made, but Oldman gives you a solid story and an excellent directorial debut. Great stuff. 7 of 10.

As a screenwriter, you learn NEVER to use dialog as your main device to introduce your characters. Don't TELL the audience who they are... SHOW them instead. Unfortunately, Gary Oldman did not learn this lesson. The first half hour of this movie introduces his South London characters through nothing but London lingo (fast, cockney-esque, and completely unintelligible to a non-Brit). I was extraordinarily disappointed with this film. But, if you hold on long enough, the action will pick up... but you may have to rewind during the first act (with the closed caption option selected) before you can really dig your teeth into what Gary Oldman is trying to show us in his brutally honest portrayal of how miserable life can be in South London (Oldman's favorite theme, it appears). Good Luck!