It has been five days since watching this, Gary Oldman's only directorial offering, and I think I have probably thought about it in one way or another each hour that has passed. It has found it's way entirely under my skin.
The premise is pitched firmly in the British New Wave tradition and simply follows some characters who fall into two camps, victims and agressors. Some cannot help but take their anger out on others, and the others have nowhere to hide. But how else can they survive - this is what they've all been trained to do. Nothing particularly extraordinary takes place, relatively speaking anyway. Everything that happens in the script, will be happening all over a world like this. It is just a few weeks in the life of a 'family' and 'friends'.
Nil by Mouth is so harrowing and effective because it is at once horrendously sickening and utterly believable. There are lots of murders in gangster films.. but even with true stories there is a disconnect with our truest emotions due to the glamourisation that films give. Were you to read about the Russian war film Come and See, it may be referred to as the only true anti-war film. It is devoid of any glossy finish or heroism and shows war as the painful, tragic and terrifying act that it is. Oldman and his ruthless and selflessly commited cast does something similar here. They portray not only incredible violence but incredible resilience.
Of all the films I know that work by simply exploring real English people in the real world that make it their business to pull you through the ringer this has to be the harshest with the strongest punch. The only one I am aware of that reaches even nearly the same level is Paddy Considine's wonderful Tyrannosaur.
Nil by Mouth is perhaps the best example that disproves many modern filmgoer's standard that a film is good only if it is enjoyable and entertaining. This is neither. It is (to exploit a shamefully flimsy Gary Oldman connection) terrible, but great.
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