Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Neds (2010)

Neds (2010)
Neds (2010)

Genre: Drama
Director: Peter Mullan
Starring:  Conor McCarron, Martin Bell, Grant Wray, Marcus Nash, Linda Cuthbert, John Joe Hay
Duration: 124 min.
Rating: 8.0/10

Summary:
Struggling against the low expectations of those around him, John McGill changes from victim to avenger, altar boy to glue sniffer, scholar to Ned. When he attempts to change back again, his new reality and recent past make conformity near impossible and violent self determination near inevitable.



Neds is a film directed by Peter Mullan in 2010, and was awarded Best Film at the 2011 San Sebastian Film Festival.  Set in Glasgow, Scotland in the 1970's, it tells the story of John McGill, a promising young lower-class student who is failed by the system and becomes a 'ned' non-educated delinquent.

Grim, disturbing, and at times brutally violent, Mullan presents a biting and realistic social critique.  Conor McCarron does a fine job in his acting debut as John, a model student with all the cards stacked against him.  His father is a violent alcoholic, his older brother a gang leader, and his teachers are either tyrannical or incompetent.

The visual style is brilliant, the film looks very much like an accurate recreation of the 70's and the mostly young cast are convincing as menacing delinquents.  There are also some surprisingly funny scenes and also a couple of bizarre surrealistic scenes including one of a statue of Jesus that comes to life.  Overall a very good film, but the story does drag on a bit towards the end, and the ending itself is rather anti-climactic.    

Neds (2010)

Neds (2010)

Neds (2010)

Neds (2010)

Neds (2010)

Neds (2010)

Neds (2010)

Neds (2010)

12 comments:

Bonjour Tristesse said...

The one you are thinking of is probably This is England.  It shares some similar themes.

The Angry Lurker said...

Peter Mullan does depressing social commentary well.

Speedy Ed said...

i've never actually seen or heard of this :O .. might have to give it a watch though

Jack L said...

I like Peter Mullan as an actor very much, so I'd be interested to see him direct.
This one sounds rather like a Ken Loach type of film, which is good...

I'll keep an eye out for it, nice review!

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Yeah Mullan's work is inspired in many ways by Ken Loach.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Yeah now I have to go check out his first film.

Beasts in Human Skin said...

I looks very Scottish.  I'm not sure if that's good or bad.

Jesse Cohen said...

Wow! That does look award-winning interesting. :)

G said...

that's a dark old film from what i remember

Das Auto! said...

I saw a very similar british film a while back, but i can't remember the name of it... oh well, i'll have to see this one

Bonjour Tristesse said...

It's worth it just for the cool Glaswegian slang.

Adalmin said...

This looks very cool. 

Post a Comment