Late Night Shopping. (2001). Cert 15. Director -
Saul Metzstein. Writer -
Jack Lothian. Starring -
Luke De Woolfson, James Lance, Kate Ashfield & Enzo
Cilenti.
Premise -
Four twentysomething friends with dead end jobs and disasters for love
lives hang around a coffee shop and discuss how terrible their lives
are. My faith
is slowly but surely being restored in the British film industry. It would
seem that the steady tirade of shoddy Lock, Stock & Bridget Jones
rip-off's is being offset by some nice low budget character driven pieces
that are begging to be seen by a larger audience. Late Night
Shopping is one such film. Yet to secure a release in the US, this is
definitely a film to keep an eye out for. Saul
Metzstein's debut feature is a glorious exploration of friendship and how
we choose to spend our lives. The four main characters all work
nightshifts and spend the time before and after work drinking coffee and
talking about how they hate their jobs and lives in general. Lenny
works in a directory enquiries call centre and has trouble speaking to
women. Sean is a hospital porter who's girlfriend works a day shift,
consequently he never sees her and wonders if she still stays with him.
Vincent works in a supermarket and is a self-confessed womaniser who has a
three strike rule. He will only sleep with a woman three times before he
dumps them. Jody works for a computer components company and constantly
feels left out by the three boys. The four
talk and go about their dull, mundane existence. The film however is
anything but mundane. The tight script from Jack Lothian sparkles with wit
and charm and you grow attached to the characters and genuinely feel for
them. The story doesn't fall into cheap cliches and keeps the viewer on
it's toes, not rushing into any obvious or cheesy climaxes. In a
welcome change of pace for recent British movie the film contains no
violence and no drug-use. Sex is hinted at rather than shown and swearing
is kept to a minimum. The movie
was filmed in Glasgow and director Saul Metzstein does a bang up job off
making the grey, gloomy city that I know look like a bustling, lively
metropolis. In-fact If I didn't know it was filmed in Glasgow I would have
a hard job recognising it, although I did spot a few places that I know.
I'm not
familiar with any of the actors from the film, but I was very impressed
with the performances that they give. They really made me feel for them
and I saw I bit of myself in each one (being a twentysomething loser in a
dead-end job myself). Late Night
Shopping is easily one of the best films to come out of Britain in a long
time and demands to be seen by as many people as possible.
7/10 for Late Night Shopping. Poster
Quote - Life
Sucks. |