The Kissing Place (1990)

Are they his real parents?

Tony Wharmby‘s 1990 TV film The Kissing Place is an intriguing little film about Billy (Nathaniel Moreau), a little boy who discovers a chilling secret about his “parents”. Nightmares and flashbacks lead Billy to believe that the people who he calls Mom and Dad may not be his real parents.

This raises a lot of questions (Could he be adopted, or…kidnapped?) and further confuses the preteen boy.

When Billy discovers the truth, he makes a daring escape and sets off on a trip filled with perils.

…

Nathaniel Moreau delivers a memorable performance in The Kissing Place

Nathaniel Moreau delivers a good performance in the role of Billy. His character is not very convincing at first, but as the story develops his portrayal of an innocent youth in peril improves so much so that you will genuinely start caring and supporting him. Although The Kissing Place’s narrative is not necessarily a character based one – it’s Tommy’s Rite-of-Passage experiences (his encounters with people & the choices he makes – both smart moves and mistakes) that hold the story together.

The production values of The Kissing Place do not impress. Some actors deliver their lines badly (yet others do great), not all emotions ring true, the props hint of a somewhat low budget and the camerawork is nothing to write home about.

Yet the longer you watch, the more invested in Billy’s story you’ll become. There is enough suspense, “Ah Hah!” moments and surprising plot twists to capture your attention and hold it to the end. It’s true that you’d better not expect a poignant true-to-life story, but if entertainment is what you’re after, The Kissing Place delivers.

If anything in the narrative is predictable it’s the ending: crowd-pleasingly typical for TV films. Actually, that’s the case for most films anyway (with the exception of a few independent productions whose screenwriters and directors are more daring). At any rate, for me, it didn’t ruin the overall action packed thriller experience.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099944/combined

Night Hair Child (AKA What the Peeper Saw) (1972)

Marcus: Father’s 42. Mother was 35 when she died.

Elise: Yes, I know.

Marcus: When I’m 25, you’ll be 35.

Night Hair Child (released in North America as What the Peeper Saw) is an iconic piece of 1970s thriller-cum-horror. Commercially unavailable for many years, I saw a bootleg copy when I was at university a decade ago and have never forgotten the cleverly written screenplay and its daring themes, culminating in one of the most shocking final twists of its era.

The story could have been written for my tastes: psychological horror about intergenerational relationships with a strong Coming-of-Age theme. It has the added bonus of starring Mark Lester. This was the last in a rapid succession of Lester films made in 1971 in an obvious quest to fully exploit his boyish charms before puberty struck. In most of these, poor Mark looks understandably tired and unenthusiastic; but here was a role he clearly enjoyed playing. And what young teen boy wouldn’t have? After all, he got to grope Britt Ekland!

Twelve-year-old Marcus’s mother died, it’s said, from an undisclosed heart condition two years before. His father recently married Elise (Ekland), a beautiful woman 20 years his junior. She and Marcus meet when he returns home from boarding school for the first time. It’s clear from the outset that the boy finds her attractive, and his response is, to say the least, precocious.

When his father returns from a business trip, the tension mounts with jealous feelings all around. As Elise learns more about father and son, she begins to suspect that Marcus’s mother’s death may not have been all it seemed…

The storyline makes apparent references to Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw and develops similar themes: a boy’s emerging awareness of life and the reaction (hysteria?) of a young woman responsible for him. However, it does so in an overt manner, which James could not have gotten away with in his day. It also turns on the same tension of leaving us unsure who is manipulating whom and whether what we are seeing is reality or Marcus’s (or Elise’s) fantasies. But even those who spot the parallels in this and James’s classic will be unprepared for the climax, which jumps you from behind in an unforgettable way.

Mark Lester’s performance in this one is fittingly sinister yet charming. One can sense that he knew this part was his swansong as the cute kid and his relief is almost tangible. Britt Ekland makes a strong showing too in what turns out to be a complex role.

The production lacks finesse even by the standards of its time. It looks like a TV movie with continuity errors and has a clichéd soundtrack to match. But that very lack of pretension is part of its appeal to me.

Video review

Child sexuality and intergenerational affection have emerged as new taboos since 1971, with some justifiable cause. (The irony here is there are only ten years between Elise and Marcus; the real intergenerational relationship is Elise’s with his father.) Notwithstanding mild nudity, there is nothing indecent about Night Hair Child, but the version commonly available as What the Peeper Saw on Region 1 DVD has been significantly edited.

Some may feel that the original went too far for a modern audience and will prefer the censored version. Others may find that it’s worth the effort and extra cost of seeking it out uncut.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067489/combined

Night Hair Child (AKA What the Peeper Saw) (1972)

Summary

A film with a cleverly written screenplay, daring themes, and an ending that possesses one of the most shocking final twists of its era.

strong coming-of-age theme

starring Mark Lester

continuity errors

a clichéd soundtrack

3.7

OUR RATING

Regional Free

DVD

Introducing Singer/Songwriter Henno William

Having just finished researching Henno William from Pretoria, South Africa, I’m convinced he is a young singer/songwriter with the ability to make a huge impression on the world music scene soon.

Emphasize “songwriter”!

Many of the tunes Henno sings are his own creations, and they show the promise of an evolving artist with an ability to bring private emotions onto a public stage! That takes a lot of courage, which he has, along with good piano and keyboard skills.

Henno turned 13 on March 28th of this year (2016), the same day he released his debut single Beauty Queen. It’s a dreamy bittersweet ballad about a special girl, which reveals a talent for composing harmonic pop songs; the kind I have rarely heard from young artists his age.

“Beauty Queen” Original Single

There is an honesty and sincerity about Henno that is likable.

Searching for more, I found Gone Without a Trace and Sad Rainy Day, both excellent songs. In Sad Rainy Day there is a beautiful sensitivity, a quiet acceptance of someone lost. The careful keyboard work varies in volume to accent the emotion. Stylistic traces of songs by Elton John, Billy Joel or Barry Manilow in this.

So! Have you heard The Golden Buzzer? Henno has!

It’s a device a judge (in South Africa’s Got Talent) can use only once to send a contestant directly through to the semi-final. In last year’s (2015) competition Shado Twala used it and golden confetti rained down on William, who sang a spiced-up version of Let it Be.

Interviewed before going on stage, Henno admitted he was “afraid” but ready to show his stuff. There’s that honesty I like! But in a different interview, he stated “I’m never nervous– I’m always excited to go on stage” Already his showmanship shines through sparkling eyes, his expressions changing as he performs. Some young artists don’t act their songs to their audience. Emotionless they stand on stage like wax puppets. Not this boy! You can see him living out his lyrics!

Two years of pro lessons have embellished a voice that is clear and confident, tender or raunchy as the song demands. Henno has also written a blues song You You-You which he performs with style.

Even though his social media channels do not yet have many songs, the ones up are worth hearing. A few do not work for me, like Who’s Loving You (cover) where the acoustic is off somehow (the mime with hat is cool though).

When asked about role models Henno answered Elton John, Freddie Mercury–older rockers. When asked about Bieber he waivered…not his style of music was the answer.

It will be very interesting to follow this artist in the coming months and years. I anticipate some fine new songs and a rapid rise in popularity.

Best wishes,

rjmendera

This is England (2006)

I grew up in northern England in the nineties. We lived in a trendy-lefty suburban village where race was not an issue (largely by virtue of the population being middle-class and near-exclusively white). However, our utopia bordered Greater Manchester, where things, as I knew, were different. Our neighboring borough of Oldham had some British National Party councillors in local government and its streets were the scene of several race riots during my childhood.

Around the turn of the millennium I started at a culturally diverse secondary school. Its catchment area included one of the most socially deprived housing estates in England, whose residents were predominantly black. On the surface there was harmony: white kids even thought it cool to toke da weed and speak like recent immingrants fram Jameeka, man. But there was real tension beneath this, which I came to understand was as much about financial inequality as it was about color of skin. And it didn’t take me long to work out that some of the biggest bigots were themselves victims of social exclusion. It was, I’m sure, this experience that led me to become a political animal in my early teens, with a near-fanatical passion for social justice and equal opportunities.

a moving coming-of-age drama

I mention this to explain why, when I first saw This is England in my late teens, I had low expectations. I couldn’t see how a film about racist skinheads could be anything more than a painfully cliché-ridden if well-intentioned piece of social commentary. I wasn’t expecting one of the best British films of the millennium to date. For not only is this an insightful portrayal of the insidious roots of prejudice, it’s also a moving Coming-of-Age drama seen through the eyes of a 12-year-old boy.

That boy is Shaun, played in an incredible screen début by Thomas Turgoose. A child of the Thatcher era, when social injustice may well have been worse than it was during my childhood, he lives with his widowed mother who has struggled to provide for him since his father was killed during the Falklands War.

Despite being a spirited back-fighter, Shaun is relentlessly teased and picked on for his uncool second-hand clothes and goaded into conflict over his father’s death. Walking home from school, downtrodden after a particularly fraught day, he runs into a gang of skinheads whose leader, Woody (Joe Giligun), unexpectedly lends the boy the kindness and sympathy he craves.

Over the course of the summer holidays, Shaun joins the gang who kit him out with new clothes and (to his mother’s disdain) a number 1 head-shave. His self-image and confidence rocket in the company of his new-found friends, who give him genuine care and companionship.

No true skinhead is a racist

“No true skinhead is a racist” is a mantra that I grew up with and there is acknowledgement here of the movement’s roots in Afro-Caribbean music and culture. This is a gang of social outcasts who are mildly delinquent but not bigoted. One of them is black (affectionately nick-named Milky). But things turn sour when a former member, Combo (Stephen Graham), shows up after a stretch in jail. It soon transpires that he is an unapologetic racist with psychopathic tendencies. Combo takes a shine to Shaun, in whom he sees many of his own qualities. When he starts jostling for Woody’s position as gang-leader there is a sharp division within the group and Shaun is cornered into making a painful choice.

This is England turns on the character of Shaun and the role demands a lot from the 12-year-old newcomer. Thomas Turgoose acquits the part with consummate ease; his performance is so natural that this often looks more like a fly-on-the-wall documentary than a drama. All the cast make strong showings, though – most notably Stephen Graham, who manages to make even his revolting character slightly likable.

Indeed, Writer/Director Shane Meadows‘ refusal to couch his characters as goodies and baddies is the story’s greatest strength for me. They’re all flawed people, some very flawed, but aren’t we all? He had an easy task in making Shaun a character with whom we can identify but it takes creative genius to elicit sympathy for a crazed thug like Combo.

Trailer

To quote the DVD cover, This is England “contains extreme racist violence and language,” and consequently has an 18 certificate in the UK. I find that a shame. This is certainly not comfortable family viewing; there is a brooding menace underlying the story and the final bloody show-down is one of the few predictable aspects of it. But in terms of actual violence, I’ve seen worse in films let off with a 15 rating. The issue here is the racist language and overtones, but these exist within the context of the film’s being a wholesale condemnation of mindless bigotry. Meadows doesn’t try to force his message on us – this is a “show” rather than “tell” movie – but its relevance to today’s teenagers is obvious. We are living in times of paranoia over immigration and suspicion towards our Asian communities. Speaking as a teacher, if I had my way this film would be a compulsory part of the high school curriculum.

British cinema at its best

This is England is British cinema at its best: gritty realism, biting observation and the revelation of uncomfortable truths. It has moments of humor and tenderness too. It’s not always easy to watch but the rewards are well worth the effort.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480025/combined

This is England (2006)

In short

British cinema at its best. Flawless acting, superb characterization and enduring social relevance.

4.8

OUR REVIEW

Where to buy

AMAZON

Fragile (2014)

Discovering who one really is and embracing oneself can be a daunting task at any age. Portraying the process in cinema also presents its challenges as it requires a storytelling approach that allows the inner intimate world of a person to shine through.

The Australian Writer/Director Juliet Juliana Mango attempted to do just that in her 2014 short film titled Fragile. The protagonist of the film is eight-year-old Alex (Alex Bryans) who hides that he likes to play with dolls and put on make-up, gets bullied in school (implied by the bruises on his face) and faces mistreatment at home, where his dad is on a mission to shape him into a real macho boy.

While Fragile lives up to its title, the story felt somehow underdeveloped (as did the characters). This is slightly offset by the acting job of Alex Bryans, who does a good job in portraying a transgender kid. If only the script was better written, this short film could have been as poignant as My Life in Pink (original title: Ma vie en rose). Instead, Fragile was unsatisfying as the message that the film ought to emit to its audience is somehow vague (or may not even be detectable by some viewers).

Fragile does not exactly shine cinematographically or in production design as the fixed camera approach, combined with an amateurish composition, results in a lot of “dead spaces” (places in the frame where nothing really is going on). The cliché scenes are also present – i.e. the kid on the bed looking scared hugging his knees – so that at the end the film making mistakes do make themselves obvious.

But watching a film like Fragile will make you better appreciate well produced films. Fragile‘s goals of inspiring hope, understanding and tolerance are still present, which is why the film finds its place on theskykid.com.

And last, but not least, transgender kids do exist in the real world (check out Benjamin Panciera‘s channel on YouTube) and films like Fragile could ensure that such kids receive more understanding and appreciation.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4667754/

The Confirmation (2016)

Have you thought about your sins?

Written and directed by Bob Nelson, The Confirmation is a new Canadian film with a focus on the bonding between eight-year-old Anthony (Jaeden Lieberher) and his father Walt (Clive Owen), accompanied by a whole range of adventures, misfortunes and life lessons.

The movie opens with a scene in which Anthony’s mother (Maria Bello) leaves her son in the care of her ex — Walt –- quite unwillingly and only after a stern warning that Walt should not drink and must make sure that Anthony stays clean (out of trouble at least) for his upcoming confirmation (the rite at which a baptized person affirms Christian belief and is admitted as a full member of the Church).

Jaeden Lieberher as Anthony in The Confirmation (2016)

The weekend starts off well enough, but soon turns into disaster when Walt’s valuable wood crafting tools get stolen from his pick-up truck. Recovering them is crucial as Walt is a freelancer who is often out of work. So he takes his son on a search that puts them in hazardous situations among an array of eccentric people who may or may not know who stole the tools.

Admittedly, I failed to associate with or sincerely care for the characters on an emotional level, which doesn’t mean that the characters were not well developed. On the contrary, by the end of the film I felt like I really knew them – especially Walt (undoubtedly thanks to the natural acting performance of Clive Owen).

Jaeden Lieberher is a child actor with a unique appearance which, combined with his pairing with talented and experienced actors like Bill Murray in St. Vincent and Clive Owen in The Confirmation, has allowed him to learn tricks of the trade that enhances the characters he portrays in the process. That’s so much the case that the roles he’s chosen for almost appear that he’s being typecast. In all of his screen appearances, his posture, mannerisms and self-assured composure strongly surface, which some might find irritating (me too – occasionally), but also evoke an instant recognition of the actor and the will of his characters.

Most of the story is told from Anthony’s perspective, which shapes The Confirmation into a Rite-of-Passage movie. Its narrative feels almost bittersweet at times, as while the laughs of St. Vincent are not present (or perhaps whatever humor is present is just of a different kind), the newly acquired understanding of life was very evident for the young protagonist of the film, for his dad and, last but not least, the audience. The acquiring of that wisdom is a central theme in any Coming-of-Age narrative and Bob Nelson does a great job of skillfully integrating this theme into his film.

The Confirmation Official Trailer

Nelson seems to have found inspiration in an American Western television program called The Rifleman (fragments from it are actually seen playing on a TV set at a scene set at Walt`s apartment) – especially in the characters (the young Mark absorbing the peculiarities of life while accompanying his father) and the basic idea that everyone deserves a second chance – including Walt who is a recovering alcoholic.

The Confirmation has the unmistakable feel of an independent Canadian production, slightly art-house – serious and with a narrative focusing on real-life issues. This makes it slightly unsuitable for people used to manipulative dramas or swift actions. Yet it does not bore and results in a rewarding cinematic experience for anyone who invests his/her time in seeing it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4210080/

The Confirmation (2016)

In short

The Confirmation has the unmistakable feel of an independent Canadian production, slightly art-house - serious and with a narrative focusing on real-life issues.

4

OUR RATING

Where to watch

On Demand

AMAZON DVD

The Children of Dynmouth (BBC Screen Two, 1987)

Cover of the novel The Children of Dynmouth

The souls of the adult people have shrivelled up. Last year’s rhubarb’s walking the street, Sir.
Timothy Gedge

There seems to have been a golden era of British Television drama in the decade before I was born. I guess it’s swingeing budget cuts that have put an end to that. These days we’re lucky to get more than one outstanding TV movie a year, but back in the 80s the BBC was churning them out on a weekly basis.

Screen Two was a long-running series of such films. All the ones that I’ve seen were good, many excellent and a few simply stunning. William Trevor‘s screenplay adaptation of his Whitbread Award-winning novel The Children of Dynmouth stands proud in the last category.

Though not a household name, Trevor, who died at the age of 88 last November, was a distinguished Anglo-Irish author, said to have been a candidate for the Nobel Prize for Literature. I’ve been a fan of his work since I was a kid and it was a copy of The Children of Dynmouth, which I chanced upon while browsing through my parents’ paperback collection, that introduced me to him.

When I was told that a dramatized version of the novel was available on You Tube, I was skeptical. Trevor’s writing has a distinctive and quite beautiful narrative voice, which inevitably seems to get lost in a screen adaptation. But I was wrong. This may just be the first film made since The Wizard of Oz that’s actually better than the book on which it’s based.

OK, maybe that’s over-hyping what is, after all, a TV movie made on a TV budget. Its creative genes are nevertheless strong: Trevor himself wrote the screenplay; it was directed by the celebrated veteran Peter Hammond (BAFTA Award-winner, noted for such British TV classics as The Avengers, Tales of The Unexpected and Inspector Morse.) The cast features several well-respected names including John Bird, Gary Raymond and a cameo by playwright Peter Jones. Two of the newcomers, Eleanor Tremain and Graham McGrath, went on to have successful acting careers as adults and their promising débuts are documented here. But it was undoubtedly Simon Fox, in his one and only acting role, who stole the show as the main character: 15 year-old Timothy Gedge.

Timothy is a deprived, neglected teenager who spends his days wandering around his small home town spying on people through a pair of binoculars. Few care about him and those who do, like the elderly childless couple the Abigails, live to regret it. As Mrs Abigail herself puts it, “He eats his way into people’s lives – destroys people because he’s been destroyed himself.”

But Timothy can make people laugh – and even though they may often be laughing “at” rather than “with” him, it’s a gift nonetheless. He devises a macabre black comedy sketch for a local spot the talent competition but needs some hard-to-find props. The props are all out there, but he needs to persuade some hostile residents of the town to let him have them, and therein lies the story.

This is a tale of a hapless boy’s blackmail, both literal and emotional, and of half-truths which, when combined with blackmail, can be more insidious than truth or lies alone. Though it has its comic moments, most notably Timothy’s climactic performance in the competition, it’s pretty dark stuff.

If it can be classed as a Coming-of-Age story, then it is one with a twist. For it’s not Timothy who comes of age here: he’s a catalyst who shows no aptitude for learning from experience. His two youngest victims (Tremain and McGrath) learn a few of life’s lessons the hard way at Timothy’s hands, but it’s really middle-aged Mrs Abigail who sees the light in the end during a wonderful showdown with the somewhat inadequate parish priest.

Although he had no prior acting experience, Simon Fox (whose career forked to work behind the camera) was perfectly cast as Timothy. His portrayal of the vulnerable yet manipulative, malicious youngster is creepily realistic and haunted me for days after I watched it. He was, in fact, a young-looking 17 at the time but the maturity with which he handled the role is still remarkable.

Peter Hammond’s direction, with its characteristic use of reflection and shots through opaque screens, suits the story’s themes well. The cinematography here is immaculate and stops short of letting Hammond’s potentially ostentatious techniques spoil the show.

The original score by Paul Lewis, reminiscent at times of Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre, fits the film’s mood to a tee and kept me glued to final credits till the end.

Only a handful of the Screen Two productions have been released by the BBC on DVD and (unforgivably, in my view) The Children of Dynmouth is not among them. Indeed, this film has not been aired since its original screening in 1987. Fortunately, a reasonable print of it is up on You Tube, largely thanks to Simon Fox, who supplied the poster with his personal copy of it.

Incidentally, among the Screen Two productions that have been released on DVD is Michael Palin‘s whimsical Coming-of-Age comedy East of Ipswich, which also comes with my recommendation.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1203843/combined

Lokas (2008)

I hadn’t laughed so hard in a long time. Lokas is a wonderful comedy from Chile directed by one of the country’s greatest directors: Gonzalo Justiniano. The plot follows the adventures of Charly, a middle-aged man who lives with his son Pedro (Raimundo Bastidas) in Mexico City. Unfortunately, he gets in trouble and is sent to serve a short sentence in jail. When he gets out, he is unable to find a job and has no other choice but to take his son and return to Chile where his father lives. The last time he saw his father was some 30 years before. Much to his surprise, he finds out that his father is gay and lives with another person. That, in itself, is quite stressful for Charly who stands as a homophobe.

The screenplay was written by Rodrigo Bastidas, who stars in the film himself in the role of Charley. He takes his son Raimundo along and thanks to that the viewer can enjoy the first-class acting of young Raimundo in the role of Pedro.

In an interview, Rodrigo shared some insight into why he decided to write the script:

“Half a year ago, Raimundo asked me: “Hey Dad, will I be gay?” I said “Look, I think not, your behavior, you say you like girls, you’re in love with this here, that there, so from that point of view, no.” Afterward, those concerns of sexual identity became part of the movie Lokas.

Some movie critic agencies rated the film “Suitable for persons over 14”, which surprised its creators. They found that decision to be discriminatory and declared that it was absurd that the entire film was censored in this way. The director Gonzalo Justiniano said:

“We are surprised by the ratification of age, because the theme of the film today should not be a taboo for children.”

Raimundo Bastidas as Pedro in Lokas (2008)

Rodrigo Bastidas also commented that this movie is for all audiences. “One of its main protagonists, and the theme of the film, is a child of 11 years, who accepted his grandfather being gay naturally, without discriminating. I think it’s a film for over 10 years … if one must put a number to it. I find it very educational to go with your child of 10, 11 or 12 years to see a movie like this.”

In this respect, in my opinion the viewer must consider that the movie rating was wrong as there is not a single scene that I would consider offensive for any age. Rather, it contains well-taught lessons about tolerance and acceptance of people as they are.

The director’s idea was to build a tender and funny film that could also entertain, and I think he successfully met those objectives.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1345492/combined

Dogwood (2014)

Sometimes all we need is bit of kinship and empathy. And sometimes a simple story told in a movie can make us feel good about the world, about the people and encourage in an ingenious way to “pay it forward”. That is the case with the 2014 short film Dogwood written and directed by Christopher Maloney.

The movie tells the story of Charlie (Rick Parker) – a good natured school bus driver who notices the shines of Rowan (Perrin Jack) young boy who has recently been placed in a foster home along Charlie’s bus route. Charlie shows interest in the boy and the two develop a heartwarming friendship which brightens both of their lives.

Dogwood is beautifully shot and combined with its very fitting musical score (by a band called Town Meeting) – it evokes a sense of calmness and harmony. The story is simple enough to follow and most viewers will be able to relate to it (in my case it brought reminiscences of friends from Germany and elsewhere with whom I have formed a bound regardless of the age difference). My only complaint is the somehow unsatisfying and vague ending.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3963288/combined

Bloody Kids (1979)

I love finding old pieces of history in the making: obscure early albums by famous artists, A-list actors playing bit parts in old films and so on. So when I saw a VHS tape of this 1979 TV movie written by Stephen Poliakoff and directed by Stephen Frears in a charity shop, I snapped it up.

This one does, indeed, have Mel Smith in a minor role as a nightclub bouncer, but that’s just the icing on the cake.

Poliakoff is a celebrated playwright best known for his stage productions, though since the 1980s he has done some great writing for British television too. Frears, of course, went on to direct many excellent movies including Dangerous Liaisons (1988) The Hi-Lo Country (1998) and, most notably for me, the (then) daring gay romantic comedy My Beautiful Launderette (1985). So I had high expectations of this film – and it did not disappoint.

It tells a dark story of disturbed young Leo who persuades his easily-led school friend Mike to take part in a prank that goes too far. Leo ends up in the hospital while Mike, terrified and alone, goes on the run. He soon hooks up with Ken (Gary Holton), a drug-crazed car thief who takes the naive boy under his wing and on a roller-coaster journey of delinquency.

Richard Thomas and Peter Clark in Bloody Kids

Though neither of the two young leads, Richard Thomas and Peter Clark, pursued a career in acting, their performances are strong, capturing well the sinister feel of their manipulative friendship. The adult cast all do a good job, and Gary Holton is outstanding. Better known as a rock musician, he showed great potential here as a character actor. Sadly, he died from an accidental drink and drug overdose just six years after this film was made.

It’s the production and direction that are the film’s main strengths, though. It has no pretensions of being anything other than a made-for-TV movie, but the cinematography is first-rate. With Stephen Frears and Barry Hanson (who also produced The Long Good Friday) at the helm, one would expect nothing less.

Although the piece inevitably looks dated, the themes and performances have a remarkably contemporary feel to them. Indeed, for Britons over 30, the story will have chilling echoes of two boys much the same age who committed an unthinkable crime in Liverpool 13 years later, also after a prank sprang tragically out of control.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that, despite its obscurity, Bloody Kids is available as a Region 2 DVD from major online UK suppliers. It has not been released for the North American market.

Trailer

Some may feel that the drug references and depictions of delinquency make the film unsuitable for viewers under 15, but it is likely to appeal to discerning teenagers and adults alike.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078881/combined

Møv og Funder (1991)

Scandinavian films almost always avoid shying away from portraying youthful experiences using false pretenses, which enhances their credibility — especially when compared with most US productions (of course each rule has its exceptions).

Møv og Funder (Its English title, The Hideaway is so rarely used that I decided to stick with the original Danish one for this review) is a 1991 Coming-of-Age film from Denmark directed by Niels Gråbøl.

Starring Kasper Andersen in the lead role of the 12-year-old (going on 13) Møv, the movie tells the story of the unlikely friendship between a boy and an older juvenile delinquent. Møv (short for Martin) spends quite a lot of time by himself. His parents are separated and both seem to devote more time to their new-found partners than to their son.

The opening scene is essential to one’s understanding of Møv’s personality: posters from the movie Terminator and of Native Americans hang on the walls of his room, suggesting an imaginative and adventurous kid who loves reading (and movies).

Møv has a crush on Rikke (Kristine Horn), a girl from his building but, other than observing her (with a risk to his life at times), he is not sure how to proceed. When the kids meet, Møv blushes and becomes boastful and clumsy as most boys do around someone they like.

One day Møv witnesses a street fight that ends quite brutally. Later that day, the boy encounters one of the participants of the fight, Funder (Allan Winther), a 22-year-old street bum who has been wounded and is hiding from the police in the basement of the apartment block where the boy lives.

Møv’s friendly demeanor and naivety takes over and, when Funder asks the boy for help, he decides to offer him the family box room as a refuge. Impressed by Funder’s toughness, and his life philosophy (based on statements such as “You’ve got to take it to the limit”), Møv develops something akin to hero-worship towards his new-found friend.

The situation becomes complicated when it becomes clear that Funder will require medical attention, in spite of the danger that will place him in, of being caught by the police.

Kasper Andersen and Allan Winther work great as an acting tandem, which enabled the film’s director to achieve a delightful juxtaposition between the innocence of the young Møv and the rebellious manner of Funder. The many close up camera shots, combined with a skillful use of lighting, are used frequently and allow one to sense the emotions of the film’s protagonists, thus enhancing their characters.

Møv og Funder does not have a long screen time (just 70 minutes), but its simple narrative is filled with nuances that make it intriguing and action that makes it intense and a joy to watch. The film manages to accurately portray the first encounter of a young boy with the adult world, with all of its perils and wonders. This provides for the Coming-of-Age nuance of the narrative, making it more than being just a children’s film.

The song played at the film’s end makes for a wonderful finale. Its lyrics focus on growing-up and learning from one’s experiences as well as the importance of friendship:

“You’re nobody until you fall in love; you’re nobody until you care about someone. You can be a king and own all the gold in the world, but it will not bring you happiness in old age.”

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104961/combined

Oliver Twist (Disney, 1997)

I first saw this production of this classic tale by Charles Dickens when I was 10, and I loved it.

Back then, though, I hadn’t read the novel or watched David Lean‘s excellent 1948 version with John Howard Davies and Alec Guinness. This Disney TV Movie inspired me to do both, and for that I am eternally grateful.

When I found it available on DVD, I ordered a copy for old time’s sake. I wasn’t expecting it to be as good as I remembered (these things rarely are) but I was unprepared for how appalling it really is. Ah well, I suppose I used to love The Tellytubbies too.

The screenplay pares down the Dickens story to its bare bones and then re-writes some aspects of it.

Mr Bumble who, in the novel, epitomises injustice and hypocrisy in the Victorian treatment of the have-nots by the haves, is demoted to a bit part. The episode of Oliver’s apprenticeship to Sowerberry, the undertaker, and his spirited fight with the bully Noah Claypole is cut, leaving Oliver’s decision to run away to London rather nonsensical.

Substituted is a contrived story concerning Oliver’s possession of the locket that his mother gave him, which he is (inexplicably) convinced will lead him to discover his true identity. (The locket is important in the novel, but Oliver is unaware of it until the end.)

Although what’s left of the plot is reasonably faithful to the original, the characterization is not. This is particularly true of Fagin (Richard Dreyfuss), who is depicted as an avuncular figure and, in the novel, Fagin was anything but. Fagin was a mean old man in every sense, who beat and bullied the boys in his self-styled “care.” I suspect that, had Dickens created the “elderly receiver” today, he may have had him abuse his charges in ways even more insidious.

To give Dreyfuss his due, he does a good job of playing the part as written, but the performance is a shadow of Alec Guinness’s 1948 opus or even Ron Moody‘s light-hearted portrayal in the 1968 musical.

Elijah Wood is well-cast as Dodger and gives a strong showing. Unfortunately, it’s wrecked for any native Brit-English speaker by his accent – surely the most ludicrous attempt at Cockney since Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. By the final scenes, Elijah seems to have given up and starts sounding American. One really would have thought that Disney had the resources to employ a decent dialect coach. It’s a shame they didn’t, for he is a talented actor.

Alex Trench and Elijah Wood in Oliver Twist

No less laughable is the soundtrack, which purports to consist of traditional English music. Those with even a rudimentary knowledge of the subject can’t fail to be amused by the anachronisms. The score features the Christmas carol In The Bleak Midwinter, even though Christina Rossetti‘s words weren’t set to Gustav Holst‘s music until 1906. Another tune used is George Butterworth‘s The Blacksmith – published in 1912. Then there’s Hard, Hard Times, which is at least traditional but, unfortunately, Canadian – it didn’t become associated with the UK until the folk group Steeleye Span re-worked it as Hard Times of Old England in 1975 (a track from which the arrangement used in the film is clearly lifted.)

This looks like what it is: a shoddily made, low budget TV movie – right down to the poor lighting and 4:3 aspect ratio.

Its saving grace is the otherwise unknown Alex Trench as Oliver. He just so looks the part and carries it off to near perfection: better, in my view, than John Howard Davies’s slightly cloying performance in David Lean’s masterpiece.

Trailer ( fan-made)

http://youtu.be/g-auFdPTnko

Then again, what was Dickens’s underlying moral in this story? That a kind-hearted boy of good character can stay true to himself in the face of hardship, cruelty and poor role-models. That’s so quintessentially Disneyesque that they could hardly have got Oliver himself wrong.

For Alex Trench’s performance, this a flick worth catching if ever it’s re-run on TV, but don’t waste your money on it… Unless you have a 10-year-old kid, in which case it may serve as a useful introduction to the great Victorian author’s work.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119825/combined

TheSkyKid.com

TheSKyKid.com

The Kissing Place (1990)

Night Hair Child (AKA What the Peeper Saw) (1972)

Introducing Singer/Songwriter Henno William

This is England (2006)

Fragile (2014)

The Confirmation (2016)

The Children of Dynmouth (BBC Screen Two, 1987)

Lokas (2008)

Dogwood (2014)

Bloody Kids (1979)

Møv og Funder (1991)

Oliver Twist (Disney, 1997)