User Reviews

From the makers of Human traffic comes its arguably superior accompaniment. SW9 like human traffic has a plot evolving round drugs and club culture, but this time it is accompanied by a more advanced plot, and better characterisation. This film will not leave you grinning from ear to ear and grabbing for your pills, but it is guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat. SW9 gives a honest and uncompromising view of the pros and cons of inner city life, which has rarely been conveyed on film before. This has got everything you need to keep you entertained for a couple of hours; humour, tragedy, and a clever plot, all to the sound of a banging sound track, from super star Dj Dave Pearce. Who needs big budget Hollywood movies, when the British are producing movies this good!

Set chiefly in squalid locations - squats, hang-outs, and semi-derelict buildings - and featuring a cast of pushers, crusties and skammers, SW9 is concerned to show how the drug culture can be equally alluring to parents, professionals and religious figures - with 'respectable' family or professional backgrounds.

Archive and media footage is used to paint a great picture of the colour and cultural history of a particular part of South London, and to reinforce the film-makers' concern with British and international political issues.

I enjoyed the restraint and narrative pace of the film and I particularly loved the twist whereby we discover something about a character we might have taken for granted.

We really rented this DVD on a gamble - I hated human traffic and even though the cover of SW9 said "trainspotting meets pulp fiction" (usually speaking this assures you that the movie is bad ;) - we went for it.

The beauty of this movie lies not in the story, but more in the total production, the characters and the excellent music. It all makes you experience the life of these clubbers and scammers in a really authentic way. Some parts of the movie even reminded me of (the far superior) Requiem for a Dream.

All in all it's a great movie that will certainly appeal to anyone who ever ate Disco Biscuits :)

This is possibly one of the worst films I have ever seen. The plot and characterisation is clumsily handled. There isn't one character you feel sympathy for and all in all I felt that the film lacked charm or warmth. All of the characters felt like sketches and not real people you could identify with or feel empathy. The multi plot storyline popularised by Guy Ritchie is used to no real positive effect. The message of crack addiction ruins lives whilst unsettling was sanctimonious. Saying crack addiction is a not good for you is like saying the Sun is hot. The depiction of Brixton was passé and out of date. The film makers made Brixton look like something out of the early 90's. I sat through 2 hours of monotonous rubbish and I wish I had listened to my partners requests of wanting to hire You Me and Dupree instead. I am struggling to find any redeeming qualities about this film. I can safely say that I would live a happy and content life if I never laid eyes on this film again. Rubbish with a capital R.

Where do you start with a film like this?

I'll try to be nice. Theres a few good ideas flying around here. The use of archive material is quite effective. Some of the cinematography is nice. Erm, the music's ok.

As a whole though, its a failure.

I wasn't expecting a lot - I rented this film purely because I live in the area portrayed. And thank god I do, as for the large part it was only being able to go 'oh look, thats suchandsuch street' that kept me viewing. And even then I almost turned it off before the end.

So whats so wrong here? First and foremost, the script. Its appalling. Character, plot, atmosphere, everything is sacrificed to a woefully misguided attempt to be cool. Every single character speaks in an immensely irritating 'street' style that utterly fails to ring true. The setting is a failed attempt to create a disperate group of 'crazy' characters around a 'cool' location. With good writing and charismatic acting this kind of thing can work (eg 'trainspotting'). For an example of how this could have been done in Brixton, check out 'Milk, Sulphate and Alby Stavation', a novel by Martin Millar. Set in Brixton, and more 'far out' than anything here, yet it still rings far truer.

The plot is poorly conceived, and eventually disintegrates into characters moving seemingly at random from one location to another. Eventually some plastic cockney gangsters turn up as the filmmakers throw some Guy Ritchie into the mix in the hope that it will impress someone.

Although it's not neccessarily a bad thing for a film to fail to resemble real life, the postcode title and archive news material would suggest that the filmmakers are attempting to reflect the real brixton here. Once again, they fail. The real Brixton does have its fair share of (mostly self-proclaimed) funky scenesters, but they're hard to spot among the desperate drug addicts, pushy dealers, aggresive petty criminals and put-upon locals trying to keep their head down and get through the day unscathed. To make a film about this region which either ignores or glamourises the overwhelming social problems present is ridiculous and irresponsible. If the film is intended as fantasy, then why tie it to a real place and a real history?

In the end though, I would happily overlooked all this if the film had entertained. Although the start is fairly promising, boredom soon sets in, followed by disbelief.

How some other reviewers found this film enjoyable is hard to understand, although the fact that most of them mention drugs in their reviews perhaps goes some way towards explaining. If you're a teenage male who thinks drugs are really really cool then you might get something out of this mess, but even then I'd imagine you'll be waiting for it to end by about halfway in.

To sum up - this film tries far too hard, and fails at virtually everything it tries.

This movie is by no means truly awful. It just often feels like it. It is directed with a real verve, and there are one or two genuinely fresh touches which threaten to lift it into the same area as something watchable. But at the end of the day, the one word that describes this movie accurately is "stale".

The "script" is a horrible misfire. It tries (and fails miserably) to:

*Be hip

*Contain likeable characters

*Rip off Pulp Fiction / Human Traffic / Anything you can imagine

*Be profound

So. How do you build a film on foundations like that?

Exactly. You can't. What more can you say?

It looks nice, some of the better (Who the hell cast this movie?!) actors try hard, and the locations ring far truer than the whitewashed London of, "Notting Hill".

But trust me, you'll be bored.

Absolutely great movie. Multi story happenings, which all have their end point at a rave party in a church somewhere in London. One guy on acid without his own or anyone elses knowledge, spaceman! He's flowing .... Comedy, drama, crime, ... hard to place this movie in one catagory. 10/10 movie without a doubt!

South West 9 was made by the same company as Human Traffic, which although itself not really much of a movie is emerging as one of the better British flicks of recent times, which shows you just how bad most British films are. But Human Traffic, I feel, was a film of two halves; the first, weaker half, contained all the movies references to drugs, pubs, clubs, raves etc. (which is what the film was promoted on), while the second, stronger half instead concentrated on such traditional elements as narrative, characterisation and relations between characters. When Human Traffic laid off its drugs/clubs scene setting and concentrated instead on its characters and story it became a decent enough little film. So you would have thought that the filmmakers would have learnt a lesson for their second feature and produced a movie with a great story and interesting characters. But no, everything that was weak and superficial in Human Traffic is brought to the fore in South West 9.

The story, such as it is, concerns the lives of various characters in SW9 over the course of 24 hours, yet all they seem to do is take drugs, deal drugs, steal drugs and waste their lives away; and characters are so flimsy as to not even drift into stereotypes. But this is no Robert Altman style slice of life where numerous narrative threads are brought together to produce something greater than the sum of its parts, this is just botched film-making. Nothing really happens in the two hours and nothing interesting is said; the film just trundles along. And there is also a very nasty anti-capitalist, anti-police sub plot culminating in an animation of London office blocks being destroyed; if the filmmakers had a legitimate political point to make about capitalist support of corrupt military regimes, as they seemed to, it was lost completely in its clumsy exposition. And then as if sensing that all was lost, at the end of the movie they tack on a totally unnecessary gangster/gun action finale; yep, another Brit gangster flick. But frankly, by then, I was so tired of the whole sorry deal I couldn't have cared less.

The British film industry seems to be in dire straights at the moment with one bad film after another and films like South West 9 can only bring it down even furthur. I would also like to point out that I went to see this film on its opening Friday night at my local multiplex and I was the only person in the cinema! Even when I went to see the absolutely awful Rancid Aluminium on its opening night there were a few dozen people there. As nasty as it may seem, I was glad to see that after only one week on release SW9 was pulled from cinemas.

I had never heard of South West 9 before, and bought it last week after I heard Stephen Lord was in it (one of my favorite actors, he has a small role but he's the best!) as it was only £1.80 from Amazon I was surprised to find a decent film - certainly better than many Hollywood and even British films released recently. I don't know why its such an unknown film. The plot is fairly straightforward, although some of the flashback sequences are rather annoying. The characters, although not likable are interesting and u still feel for them. There are a lot of drugs in the film, but not glamorised or shown judgmentally. I'd recommend this film to anyone - its entertaining and, I think rewatchable.

xx

Not an awful film, but certainly not a good one. Poorly cast characters seemed the main reason. The main three, (names escape me) but The Essex boy, the narrator & Mitch were ok, but Dowser & Nicola Stapleton characters though they were good, took some believing and seemed a bit 'Neighbours' esque. I know it was a drugs culture film, but there was barely a character or even scene where someone wasn't stoned, which got a bit over the top by the end, and required little acting talent or character depth. If you watch this film in a group & you're anything like us, you'll reach a point where roughly in unison you'll all shout "Just hurry up & find the ****ing suitcase will you, this has gone on long enough."

I don't often notice camerawork but I did here & it was excellent, so too the location shots. It just lacked any real plot & was drowned out by 'music' (allegedly). It was only set over 24 hours, so really ambled along with no great direction, but worth a look for Colin from 'London's Burning' & Finchy from 'The Office' cropping up for, albeit small parts & one or 2 other good scenes, but that's it.

4/10

This is a good movie. In spite of what some IMDB users have said, I find the characters all totally believable. And I am both involved in putting on underground parties in London, and spend most of my clubbing time in and around Brixton.

Hats off to the casting and to one or two of the actors. It is Mark Letheren ("Mitch") who steals the show for me. Spending most of the film 'totally off his tits' on LSD after an accidental dosage, his acting is worthy of awards.

Without giving too much of the story away, it is about six different characters: an Essex scammer who is trying to organise a clubnight in a church in Brixton (called "Faith", clearly a reference to Mass, which is a real-life club in a church in Brixton); his mate Mitch, rather more naive than the former character but totally likeable, in fact probably the nicest character in the whole film; a black businesswoman who works in an investment bank and who has a big secret; a young girl (played very realistically by Amelia Curtis) who lives in a squat and works behind the bar in the Dog Bar (clearly another reference to a Brixton drinking hole, the "Dog Star"); the young black guy who's the nephew of the church owner, and who is perhaps the less convincing of the actors chosen for the various roles; and finally the former National Front member who is trying to shake off the last traces of his shameful past, wishing to integrate fully with the afro-Caribbean community where he lives and has grown to love.

Whilst some things don't ring all that true (in any club, if someone is lying on the ground they will be surrounded by other clubbers trying to help), the film is pretty accurate. The squat scene (surely based on the famous Cooltan squat) is particularly inch-perfect in its detail. I am referring to the squat where Kat and the others live, rather than the Smoke House.

People who know Brixton will love it... every single house and street seems instantly recognisable... Electric Avenue, the Peace Park, Coldharbour Lane, Loughborough Road, Atlantic Avenue... fascinating and fun. But more importantly, they'll recognise all the character types, or even themselves, in the cast. The music is good (although perhaps not enough, but it is a sufficiently accurate depiction of the underground acid trance squat scene), and anyone who shares any antiglobalisation anticapitalist views and has been on Reclaim the Streets marches will also particularly love it. The anarchists are well depicted, accurately, not stereotypes. But if this is not your scene, don't let that put you off. You'll still enjoy the film, it just won't mean as much to you.

I wouldn't say it's a particularly feelgood movie, although there are some very amusing moments. The ending is a little sad and, perhaps, frustrating, but it is probably more realistic for that reason. It's not a downer, however.

If you get the DVD, watch the deleted scenes (well worth watching, what a shame they were deleted!) and the Story of the Filming. The latter is particularly good, showing the trials of tribulations of the cast, particularly Becky Bligh (who co-ordinated the street scenes). Entertaining stuff. Among the extra hidden features ('easter eggs') there are some short films. Be careful with your mental state when watching Short Film #3, about a bad time on drugs... it's depressing and disturbing. The main feature though, "South West 9", is relatively non-judgemental about drugs and is perfectly viewable.

Hats off to the tagline writer too. "No ordinary day trip", very droll indeed.

On the -4 to +4 scale, I give this a +2.

From the get go this film does not let up. As it says on the front it's Trainspotting meets Pulp Fiction, and is thoroughly gripping throughout.

The characters and plot line are very interesting and provide great humourous moments, as they meander around the streets coming towards the dance club/church where they all finally end up.

Perhaps the best thing about the movie is the pulsating soundtrack, with a tremendous variety of dance music genres, along with great one-liners, such as the mention of 'penguin acid trance.'

The direction is interesting, and the layout of the scenes and various different set pieces are all colourful and add to the movie. The script is good, and the actors thoroughly excell in their roles.

There are many subtle similarities betwen this and the classic Human Traffic, and it takes elements from a variety of other films.

Its also a real eye-opener for non-Acid-trippers, as well as being a pleasing journey into the world of pill-poppers for those who do eat Disco Biscuits!

One of the best low-budget independent films around, very worth while checking out.

10/10

SVD

I saw this film after being told about it by friends, and now it has to be one of my favourites. If you are a slightly adventurous or inquisitive person, then you will enjoy this film. It warns people about the dangers of drugs if taken too much and has certainly put me off ever taking LSD. With this film, you get to see the world for what it is. It may be slightly messed up but, at the end of the day, thats life. I think some people dislike this film just because they see people that take drugs to be bad people, which is not, in the vast majority of cases, true. Some of the characters may not have been that likable but all characters in films are generally exaggerated. The film is quite weird (mainly due to the absolute head-f***ed characters), but is kept bearable with a lot of humour. So if you're up for a trippy, funny film..go for this one.

I recently saw this awful film.i rented it from the local video shop,wishing now that i hadnt wasted £2:50 of my hard earned money! The writers have no original ideas,or if they have,they havent shown it in this film.It is supposed to be a mix of Trainspotting and Pulp Fiction like films,but instead it was a mix of the worst film ever and the most painful experience youve ever had. If you want to be bored out of your mind,not understand half of the film or why a particular thing has happened,then watch this film. You'd be better off watching paint dry.

This film is one of the greatest independent films to come out of Britain. The multiple plots all working around each other till they meet at one point isn't the most original of ideas but it is still done very well. The soundtrack is fantastic and features many great musicians such as Mr Scruff. The only down point is that the film at certain points disappears up its own arse and tries to be more intelligent then it actually is but all the same, a lot of the film is quite clever and the visuals along with Mark Letheren's performance as Mitch who slips out of reality is excellent.

Definitely worth your time if your into rave music and/or English films.

Ignore the IMDb rating.

while i appreciate how differcult it is to make any film, this is one that should have never have happened. dull, cliche characters, speaking south london wise ass dialogue about drugs. WOW, never seen that before.

what makes this film worse is how pretentious, a film as unorginal and simplistic as this one is. CRUSTIES are not in anyway cinematic, and how many more films am i going to have to sit through with the same s****y out-of-their-faces club scenes in. enough already.

i personally believe trainspotting was one of the worst things that ever happened to the british film industry. a great film, but one that has meant ever YOUNG british director feels the need to tell a gritty story about losers and drugs. let's all just look for something else to tell a story about. otherwise british cinema will be forever stuck in the mid nineties.