One For The Road
Not the one with Charlie Sheen I saw years ago but the one from first time feature filmmaker Chris Cooke, originating from Shane Meadows’ part of the country and the support network at Intermedia in Nottingham.
Not the one with Charlie Sheen I saw years ago but the one from first time feature filmmaker Chris Cooke, originating from Shane Meadows’ part of the country and the support network at Intermedia in Nottingham. This is another lovingly put together DVD from the people at Tartan, continuing there hot streak of DVD’s of late, even if 90% of the film going public have never heard of any of their fantastic back catalogue.
The film centres on a group of men thrown together on an alcohol management course for drink drivers and charters their exploits together. With very little sympathy imposed onto the characters we follow their week together and their dark journey into a world that offers them little hope. On route they try to defraud one of their colleagues, played by the gaining in stature Hywel Bennet, and end up in a very ambiguously dark place. Without giving anymore of the story away than I have to, this film has comedy, style, good performances and best of all is shot on DV. It seems that, as is mentioned in the supporting extras, that Chris Cooke is an active promoter of the use of DV and the particular look and feel that you get from its aesthetics. Clearly the feeling of being closer to the characters than you may be with the use of film, is very evident, as is the freedom that it allows all involved, both in the acting and in the style of the film. Although I liked this film, it has a lot to recommend it, it doesn’t feel totally cohesive. It has the feeling of a hybrid of a number of other films, from Shane Meadows’ improvisational acting approach, to Barry Levinson’s ‘Tin Men’ thematically, to a cross between ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrells’ and TV naturalism stylistically. He states in the commentary that he wanted to capture both naturalism and realism. Now in films Naturism (best demonstrated by Ken Loach) sets the characters within their environment, where they are a part of it symbiotically and the events that happen to the characters will be a product of this relationship, and with realism (best demonstrated by Mike Leigh) you are presented with a physiological realism of the characters and their interactions between each other, as demonstrated by the use of the close-up at key moments. By aiming for both of these goals, which the film achieves on a number of different levels, the inclusion of all these other stylistic elements makes the film very incohesive as a whole. It doesn’t seem to know what it is and thus falls short of being anything other than an ok film. Which is a shame really because with just a little bit more forethought this could have fallen into the category of being as impressive a debut as Jonathon Glazer’s ‘Sexy Beast’. However, we do go from the start to the finish of the film in a fluid motion and it never gets boring. The character of Paul, played by Rupert Proctor was also a weak link for me, as his constant regurgitations about what you have to do “to close the deal” seemed poorly scripted and his character was I think intentionally annoying. Whilst I am moaning, the other element that I really disliked was the music, both on this feature and the accompanying short films. I understand the use of motifs etc to represents different parts of the characters and films narrative journey but it sounded cheap and was the weak technical link in this film. I did though like the way the film finished and the fact that we never get the shot from the beginning of the film that we expect to close the film.
The picture is clear and looks good on the small screen. The sound comes in 3 different forms, Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo and 5.1 surround and DTS 5.1. I only had the Dolby Digital 5.1 selected and it was a pretty good sound coming from my speakers, so I am sure that the other channels have just been as carefully transferred. The film also has an Audio description track and English subtitles for the hard of hearing.
The Directors and Producers commentary has many things that need to be commended. First of all between the commentators you find out about the process that film makers in this country need to go through in order to get their projects realised. This one we are told, took 4 years from the start of the scriptwriting to the finished film. As an aside, although a very impressive debut, there is a worry that as a film makers raw energy comes at the beginning of his career, 4 years is too long to be spending on an experimental first feature. However, with the prize of having completed this successful first feature, hopefully Chris Cooke will not be waiting this long again until we see his next film. They also talk about the benefits of the DV format, which is a must listen to for any potential film makers out there. They discuss the editing process on and off in great detail, as well as providing many good reasons why Nottingham is a productive place for filmmakers just starting out. They discuss the style of the film and its “Tobacco, Lager and Piss colour scheme”, many useful tips about how to develop characters and the overall benefits of improvisation both for the actors and for the camera operators. They also divert to discuss the plot and how it was always shifting from the script during the edit. Overall a very informative track for the potential film maker or anyone who wants to understand about the thousands of considerations and decisions that film makers have to make.
The actors commentary is also worth a look. The 3 main actors, minus Hywel Bennet, have much fun and the fact that they are not stars you get the feel of ordinary guys joking around and taking the piss out of each other. In fact the last film commentary that had this feel was coincidentally, Shane Meadows and Paddy Considine’s commentary for ‘A Room for Romeo Brass’. This is definitely worth a watch and a worthy addition to the intimate feel that you get between all the people responsible for making this film. I think we will be seeing or hearing a lot more about Mark Henderson in the future, he had me laughing many a time.
Also included are 8 minutes of ‘Web Virals’, where 2 of the films actors, in character, add 30 second soundbites on Cars, Football, Money, Pubs, Women and Work. Quite funny and a nice little addition to this DVD.
The Short Films
1.Map of the Scars (1998)
Directed by Chris Cooke, we are informed by the accompanying Directors commentary that this was his first funded short film. It centres on a man fom Jersey who has many scars from past events in his life and the explanations about where he got some of them from. The film is “fucked up, fractured, and disorganised to reflect the characters mindset” we are told. This basically means that there are a lot of jump cuts and the scenes are edited like an MTV music video. The film is hit or miss, depending on how liberal minded you are about the art of short films but as someone who has seen many it just looks like every other short film ever made, unmemorable. As it is a short FILM many film makers seem to miss out on the opportunity of weaving an atmosphere into their stories and this one suffers from its absence. Cookes trade mark “fractured” style is very much already in effect, as is his focus on character and their darker more hopeless sides.
2.Shifting Units (2000)
The film Cooke made before ‘One for the Road’, centres on the salesman from ‘One for the Road’, played by the same actor and going over many of the same themes that his character has in it. We are informed though, again by the accompanying commentary, that this was never intended as a pilot for that film. As the film that got him recognised as a talent this is one to see, just to see the types of movies that our film funders are financing .
3. Why I Hate Parties
Directed by the funniest actor in ‘One For The Road’ Mark Devonport, this is a short about a guy who funnily enough hates parties. We follow him around a house party and listen to a voice over that tells us his thoughts during this particular night. Although there are a couple of funny moments there is no art to this film just the feel of a load of mates making a movie together. Indeed we get a number of the extras from the previous films, as well as the stock of actors who Shane Meadows was using at the start of his career in Nottingham, the now infamous Jimmy Hynd and Johann Myers to name the two I spotted, the latter imitating an American Crack Head, the best part of this short. However, the feel of mates making a movie is a positive one, it is a good way to enter the craft of film making and I am sure these guys will continue on there journey, whilst sitting it out on the dole, the best place for any potential filmmaker with a huge friendly, accommodating production facility near by.
This is a quality DVD. It is a dark little film that presents us with, although they are stylised, realistic characters that we don’t usually get to see on our screens. Considering that it is the directors first feature film, it has a lot going for it. In the future I think we will be hearing more about Chris Cooke, as long as he can get out of his familiar and similar approach to both his visuals and editing. It appears that he has many stories to tell but I fear that if he is to make an impression on this country he needs to go back to the books and start reading up on the wider world of cinema. Then I think we will be seeing the birth of one of our better more down to earth directors. As an example, and one that would probably make his ears burn, apart from ‘Once Upon a Time in the Midlands’ all of Shane Meaodows’ films have kept that Shane Meadows feel but they have all been visually and narratively very different. This has led to world wide praise for him a situation Chris Cooke might be facing in the near future if he decides to gamble and experiment more with what he has already learnt. With the accompanying shorts and their particular feel, this ‘One for the Road’ DVD should be a bookend for the start of his career. For us viewers though, rent it if you can’t afford to buy it, it is worthwhile viewing even if it is no masterpiece and the DVD itself has over 6 hours of interesting and fun material that turns it into a complete package.
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