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Dom Robinson reviews

Brassed Off

Distributed by
VCI

Cat.no: VCLD 3609
Cert: 15
Running time: 103 minutes
Sides: 2 (CLV)
Year: 1996
Pressing: 1997
Chapters: 27 (16/11)
Sound: Dolby Surround
Widescreen: 1.85:1
Price: £24.99
Extras : None

Director:

Mark Herman

Blame It On The Bellboy

Producer:

Steve Abbott

Screenplay:

Mark Herman

Music:

Trevor Jones (with Brass Band Music by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band)

Cast:

Danny: Pete Postlethwaite

The Usual Suspects, The Lost World - Jurassic Park, Crimetime, Dragonheart, Romeo and Juliet (1996), Suite 16, When Saturday Comes, TV appearances: "Sharpe's Company", "Sharpe's Enemy"

Gloria Mullins: Tara Fitzgerald

Sirens, Hear My Song, TV appearances: "The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall", "The Camomile Lawn"

Andy: Ewan McGregor

Trainspotting, A Life Less Ordinary, Shallow Grave, The Pillow Book, TV appearances: "E.R."

Phil: Stephen Tompkinson

Harry: Jim Carter

A Private Function, Blame It On The Bellboy, The Madness Of King George, Richard III

Sandra: Melanie Hill

TV appearances: "Bread"

Vera: Sue Johnston

Face, TV appearances: "Brookside"

McKenzie: Stephen Moore

Clockwise, Under Suspicion, TV appearances: "Middlemarch", "Sharpe's Sword", "The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, aged 13 3/4"

Set in 1992, Brassed Off tells the story of the impending closure of the Grimley Colliery pit, and the fact that the Grimley Colliery Band is on the verge of breaking up.

Enter Gloria, who becomes the only female member of the band and manages to rekindle their enthusiasm for the forthcoming National Championships, as well as rekindling a childhood romance with Andy.

The show must go on, and despite everyone's troubles, the band have to keep it together as the National Finals at the Royal Albert Hall are looming...

Seasoned British actor Pete Postlethwaite is one of the most prolific around to date, and his performance in this film certainly rates as one of his best. While his character hides a serious medical condition, he also gets some choice dialogue, such as that when the band does badly in a contest while they re-establish their band in the community. In the local community hall he tells off the rest of the band by pointing to black-and-white photos of previous band members with :

"If some of these were alive today, they'd be turning in their bloody graves"

The two young leads in the film are also well-known in cinema circles. Ewan McGregor has followed British triumphs such as Trainspotting and Shallow Grave by making an assault on the American market with an appearance as a gunman in hit series E.R. and with the director of the above two British films in A Life Less Ordinary. The gorgeous Tara Fitzgerald, playing the daughter of Arthur Mullins, one time a member of the band, hasn't made it to Hollywood yet, concentrating more on homegrown drama, plays the band's new arrival, and as they realise they're meant for one another, Gloria leads the conversation in which the words of love speak their name...

"Do you want to come up for a coffee?"

"I don't drink coffee"

"I haven't got any..."

The rest of the cast is filled out with British regulars such as Stephen Tompkinson whose love of the brass band raises his hopes when everything else in life is falling apart including his marriage as he fails to keep up with the repayments despite also keeping a job as Mr. Chuckles the clown.

Jim Carter's character's marriage is in equal dire straits as they work completely opposite hours and the only time they see each other is as they cross the doorstep. Sue Johnston, recently seen in the British crime thriller Face as the mother of Robert Carlyle, and Melanie Hill are the best of friends, while the always-welcome Stephen Moore plays a local council official.

The picture quality of the disc is near-perfect, bringing life to the town of Grimley making even the mostly drab-looking look attractive. In fact it would have received a perfect score had it not been for a few pressing defects early on in the film and again at the start of side two. This is certainly not a big enough problem to deter anyone from buying the disc.

The sound is nothing short of excellent, with the best use made by the rousing performance of the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, the real talent behind the Grimley Colliery Band's performance.

The chaptering is very good too, although it is annoying that the film doesn't start at the beginning of its own chapter. Chapter 1 opens with the VCI logo and an advert for The Guardian, sponsors of Film on Four, and then goes into the film. An extra chapter should have been inserted there as the second one is placed at the end of the opening credits. Similarly, an extra chapter should have been placed at the start of the closing credits as they come almost 90 seconds into the final one, A Night On The Town.

Overall, you can't beat a fine film lead by a class cast, and despite the obvious political elements of Conservative Party-bashing, this is exactly what you have here. This is the one of three discs released by VCI in their first foray into the PAL Laserdisc market, a move to be congratulated as more companies are getting in on the act. The other currently released titles are Fever Pitch and Secrets And Lies. Cover

Film: 5/5
Picture: 4/5
Sound: 5/5

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1997.

Check out VCI's Web site.

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