Gridlock’d

Viewed at Manchester Showcase Cinemas.
Telephone 0161 220 8765 for programme information

• Cert: 18
• Running time: 91 minutes
• Year: 1996
• Released: 30th May 1997
• Widescreen Ratio : 1.85:1
• Rating: 9/10

Director:

Producers:

Erica Huggins, Damian Jones, Paul Webster

Screenplay:

Vondie Curtis-Hall

Music:

Stewart Copeland

Cast :

Stretch : Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Made In Britain)
Spoon : Tupac Shakur (Juice, Poetic Justice)
Cookie : Thandie Newton (Interview with the Vampire, Flirting)
D-Reper : Vondie Curtis-Hall (Chicago Hope (TV), Die Hard 2, Broken Arrow)
Blind Man : Howard Hesseman (Head of the Class (TV))

G ridlock’d tells the story of two junkies who decide it’s time to kick their drugs habit when their flat-sharing partner, Cookie, goes into a coma after taking one too many happy-tabs. After trying all manner of ways to call an ambulance, they go down to the hospital to book her in. However, this isn’t the only place where bureaucracy won’t help them in their attempt to get clean.

They’ve picked a bad day to kick their habit. It’s New Year’s Day. Last night was great. They played a superb gig in a jazz club where talent scouts were watching, and they’re on the verge of signing a deal. Today, things are different. Whether it’s a trip to the local social services office, or an appointment with the nurse at the HIV-testing clinic, nothing is as easy as it seems as they’re pushed from pillar to post in the hope that they’ll get some form of medication today before they crack under the pressure and go back on the smack.

As if that wasn’t hard enough, they’ve also got the local drugs baron, the D-Reper, on their tail, after they stiffed him in a deal to sell him a top-of-the-range camcorder. The D-Reper’s minder is underexagerating the situation a great deal when he tells the two stars that his boss is “very unhappy with his purchase”, and when you watch the film you’ll see why…

The film has been likened as a US “Trainspotting”, but both films use a style of their own and need to be seen on their own terms.

What really makes this film for me is the superb acting, as always, from the reliable Brit Tim Roth. Most people will recognise him from Quentin Tarantino’s films, Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, but he has been in the acting game for a long time now, and one of the earliest performances I saw him in was another “angry young man” performance as a skinhead raging against the system whose life is heading fast in a downward spiral, in the 1982 TV film, Made in Britain.

Tupac Shakur does his part well, but it’s hardly outstanding. Most of the time he seems like a combination between Damon Wayans and a young Wesley Snipes, but it seems prophetic in a way that as his screen character, Spoon, eulogises about the fact that he sees his luck in life having run out, that shortly after the film, Tupac was killed in a drive-by shooting, leaving behind a few albums and films to his name.

Thandie Newton has to be one of Britain’s rising stars. Although her role in this one isn’t huge, limited mainly to overdosing, followed by a few flashback scenes to the night before at the flat and in the jazz club, it’s high time she was placed in the cast list of a big film.

The film shows great prosperity for first-time writer-director Vondie Curtis-Hall, who many will recognise as Dr. Curtis Hancock from TV’s Chicago Hope, although he has appeared in a number of other films including Broken Arrow, Clear and Present Danger and Die Hard 2.

He does well by keeping his speaking role to a minimum, while keeping a presence throughout the film, and not trying to dominate the proceedings as some actor-director’s might. Also, the inclusion of many a quick-cut scene within the film works very well indeed when mixed with the rap music, and alternating with less frantic scenes, such as those of Stretch, Spoon and Cookie’s band performing in a blues/jazz club which keep the camera moving while the excellent music echoes around the auditorium. Demand that the room you’re in has a well set-up sound system, Dolby Digital if possible, to let the mood encapsulate you.

There’s also delight in Howard Hesseman‘s turn as a blind man who doesn’t understand the meaning of not being eligible for state benefits as he begins to create more than a disturbance. It took a short while before I realised it was Charlie, the teacher, from the US TV sitcom, Head of the Class in the late 80’s.

Overall, this film is well recommended to anyone who appreciates good acting from Tim Roth, good direction and music, and doesn’t mind endless f-words. You will not be disappointed.

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1997.