*****MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS******
N.E.D.S is a fantastic coming-of-age story with remarkable authenticity and outstanding performances from a young and untrained cast. Peter Mullan has captured the essence of Glasgow gang culture impeccably while challenging oft-heard current notions of "it wasn't like that when I was a boy".
The film is brutal, touching and, thanks to an excellent script which oozes with the tension and volatility of the darker side of Glasgow's character, it carries an ever-increasing level of tension which culminates in an explosion of violence and emotional turmoil that is heart-breaking as much as it is disturbing.
The dialect is definitely a potential stumbling-block to the film's chances of appealing to a world-wide audience, despite it's themes of tribal-like warfare on the streets ringing true in all corners of the world. However, those who can deal with the relentless (and utterly realistic) F & C-words and interpret the thick Glaswegian lingo will be rewarded with a hard-hitting experience that will evoke hugely varied responses.
Interestingly, I found moments in the film very funny when they quite probably shouldn't have been. An uncomfortable laugh of recognition for these types of character and their "poetic" use of language. Many's the time while growing up that I saw people like this hanging around the streets or witnessed these animalistic and unprovoked square-offs or challenges for dominance between young guys protecting their turf of the local play-park (which also served as an under-age drinking/smoking area). An innocent boy passing by and being threatened with violence, merely for existing it seems, by a lad (often smaller than him) trying to prove how "hard" he is to the other members of his pack was a regular sight.
The film captures these incidents with a style that is bordering on documentary it is so authentic and I simply couldn't help myself but laugh at these moments. Others, such as two gangs standing at opposite ends of a foot-bridge "tooled-up" with anything sharp or heavy enough to inflict injury, taunting each other with "verbals" about each others' mothers and preparing for battle, before stopping to allow a lassie with a pram to pass through unharmed, carried a dark sense of humour about the rules of engagement adopted during these fracas. Indeed these battles reek of ancient battles such as Stirling Bridge or Bannockburn and carry a bloody brutality that echoes with the same passion and hatred for challengers to territory.
Despite a couple of dips into unnecessary weirdness, such as the Jesus- vision, the film maintains a solid pace and, while a little long for some, it captivated me well enough that I never became disinterested. The characters are magnificently portrayed and the break-down, attempt at redemption and ultimate open-ended journey of the leading man is pulled-off tremendously.
The film is visually as raw as the content of the story and has a very Ken Loach-style to it, which aids in giving a much more stomach-churning impact to the violence and the effects it leaves behind.
The film concludes with a lack of real resolution for the character, but rather an almost frustrating sense of uncertainty about what is in store. He is left (almost literally) thrown to the lions, unsure about where he will go and what he will do, dragging the ball and chain of his previous atrocities behind him with no-one left to turn to, no-one to back him up, everyone has given up on him and left him behind.
Peter Mullan has delivered yet another fine film with N.E.D.S and one that will no doubt bring mixed reaction through both it's realistic and uncomfortable portrayal of Glasgow youth and its unwillingness to adopt a sweet and audience-satisfying end which gives a conclusive answer to all that has gone before. Having met Peter Mullan while I was at university, I know that he is not one for happy endings or giving the audience what they want. He is far more in favour of showing what happens in the real world. Frankly, it doesn't always end up nice and Rosy.
N.E.D.S is a fantastic coming-of-age story with remarkable authenticity and outstanding performances from a young and untrained cast. Peter Mullan has captured the essence of Glasgow gang culture impeccably while challenging oft-heard current notions of "it wasn't like that when I was a boy".
The film is brutal, touching and, thanks to an excellent script which oozes with the tension and volatility of the darker side of Glasgow's character, it carries an ever-increasing level of tension which culminates in an explosion of violence and emotional turmoil that is heart-breaking as much as it is disturbing.
The dialect is definitely a potential stumbling-block to the film's chances of appealing to a world-wide audience, despite it's themes of tribal-like warfare on the streets ringing true in all corners of the world. However, those who can deal with the relentless (and utterly realistic) F & C-words and interpret the thick Glaswegian lingo will be rewarded with a hard-hitting experience that will evoke hugely varied responses.
Interestingly, I found moments in the film very funny when they quite probably shouldn't have been. An uncomfortable laugh of recognition for these types of character and their "poetic" use of language. Many's the time while growing up that I saw people like this hanging around the streets or witnessed these animalistic and unprovoked square-offs or challenges for dominance between young guys protecting their turf of the local play-park (which also served as an under-age drinking/smoking area). An innocent boy passing by and being threatened with violence, merely for existing it seems, by a lad (often smaller than him) trying to prove how "hard" he is to the other members of his pack was a regular sight.
The film captures these incidents with a style that is bordering on documentary it is so authentic and I simply couldn't help myself but laugh at these moments. Others, such as two gangs standing at opposite ends of a foot-bridge "tooled-up" with anything sharp or heavy enough to inflict injury, taunting each other with "verbals" about each others' mothers and preparing for battle, before stopping to allow a lassie with a pram to pass through unharmed, carried a dark sense of humour about the rules of engagement adopted during these fracas. Indeed these battles reek of ancient battles such as Stirling Bridge or Bannockburn and carry a bloody brutality that echoes with the same passion and hatred for challengers to territory.
Despite a couple of dips into unnecessary weirdness, such as the Jesus- vision, the film maintains a solid pace and, while a little long for some, it captivated me well enough that I never became disinterested. The characters are magnificently portrayed and the break-down, attempt at redemption and ultimate open-ended journey of the leading man is pulled-off tremendously.
The film is visually as raw as the content of the story and has a very Ken Loach-style to it, which aids in giving a much more stomach-churning impact to the violence and the effects it leaves behind.
The film concludes with a lack of real resolution for the character, but rather an almost frustrating sense of uncertainty about what is in store. He is left (almost literally) thrown to the lions, unsure about where he will go and what he will do, dragging the ball and chain of his previous atrocities behind him with no-one left to turn to, no-one to back him up, everyone has given up on him and left him behind.
Peter Mullan has delivered yet another fine film with N.E.D.S and one that will no doubt bring mixed reaction through both it's realistic and uncomfortable portrayal of Glasgow youth and its unwillingness to adopt a sweet and audience-satisfying end which gives a conclusive answer to all that has gone before. Having met Peter Mullan while I was at university, I know that he is not one for happy endings or giving the audience what they want. He is far more in favour of showing what happens in the real world. Frankly, it doesn't always end up nice and Rosy.
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