Nil By Mouth

Dom Robinson reviews

Nil By Mouth Distributed by

• Cert:
• Cat.no: 00440 DVD
• Running time: 123 minutes
• Year: 1998
• Pressing: 2004
• Region(s): 2, PAL
• Chapters: 28 plus extras
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
• Languages: English
• Subtitles: English for the hearing impaired
• Widescreen: 1.85:1
• 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
• Macrovision: Yes
• Disc Format: DVD 5
• Price: £15.99
• Extras: None
  

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  Director:

  Gary Oldman

  (Nil By Mouth)

Producers:

Luc Besson, Gary Oldman and Douglas Urbanski

Screenplay:

Gary Oldman

Music :

Eric Clapton

Cast :

Ray: Ray Winstone
Valerie: Kathy Burke
Billy: Charlie Creed-Miles
Janet: Laila Morse
Kath: Edna Dore
Paula: Chrissie Cotterill
Angus: Jon Morrison
Mark: Jamie Foreman
Danny: Steve Sweeney

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Nil By Mouth, is, for the first thirty minutes, an easy watch. We’re introduced to Ray (Ray Winstone), his wife Valerie (Kathy Burke), Valerie’s brother Billy (Charlie Creed-Miles), Ray’s best friend Mark (Jamie Foreman) and Valerie’s Mum, Janet (Laila Morse better known as Eastenders’ Mo Slater and also the sister of actor and first-time director Gary Oldman).

After that, and language aside if that’s your bag – although if you do object to strong profanity then don’t watch this film as there’s more effing and jeffing than a school playground, things turn ugly as Ray, seen so far drinking fairly heavily and doing some drugs, wakes at 6am to find his stash is missing and his son is No.1 prime suspect, probably because he’s lanky, pale and thin and does little but shift about uneasily. Oh, and Billy also has a tendancy to skin up.

Things than drag on for what seems like ages before the main aspect of the film is dealt with – Ray’s violent temper and his lashing out on Valerie, warning her that if she goes to her Mum’s or the hospital, he’ll kill her. The violence was dished out mostly off-camera, but the next morning we see the result of her injuries and I’m just glad that’s only make-up. However, this film highlights the fact that there are men out there who do that in reality and, to me, they rank as low as paedophiles. Add to this, the fact that Valerie’s also pregnant with her second child.

However, after the fallout of this and the expected anger and remorse from Ray, things never really go anywhere. Ok, so that’s life in general, and since this film was dedicated to Gary Oldman’s father, it’s clearly autobiographical, but it doesn’t make for satisfying viewing in terms of expecting a conclusion, even though there’s decent performances from all of the main cast.

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The film is presented in its original 1.85:1 widescreen ratio and is meant to look intentionally gritty, so don’t expect bright, vibrant colours on a rundown Cockney housing estate, but the picture shakes sometimes and this is definitely UNintentional so there’s something up with the master there.

The sound is in Dolby Digital 5.1 but never makes use of it. It’s not meant to be a sound FX spectacle, but some atmosphere could’ve been used in certain scenes to make it stand out from a basic Dolby Surround soundtrack, so if you end up catching this on TV at some point you’ll miss out nothing in the way of split-surround effects.

And you’ll also miss out nothing in the way of extras either, since despite the fact it features two great actors in Ray Winstone and Kathy Burke, the fact it’s Gary Oldman’s directorial debut and that it’s a personal film, there’s not a jot to be found in the supplementals. It’s a six-year-old film so surely even some interviews were recorded at the time?

The film contains 28 chapters, subtitles are available in English, but the menus are static and silent.

FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS


0 OVERALL Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2004.

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