Beautiful Thing (1996)

In a suburb of London, young Jamie is escaping sport hours, to avoid being the victim of his comrades. Young Ste, his neighbor, is beaten by his father, and comes to sleep overnight. They discover new feelings, sleeping in the same bed.

Director:

Hettie Macdonald

Writers:

Jonathan Harvey, Jonathan Harvey (play)

Stars:

Meera Syal, Martin Walsh, Glen Berry

4 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Meera Syal	...	Miss Chauhan
Martin Walsh	...	Mr. Bennett
Steven M. Martin	...	Ryan McBride (as Steven Martin)
Andrew Fraser	...	Jayson
John Savage	...	Lenny
Scott Neal	...	Ste Pearce
Glen Berry	...	Jamie Gangel
Julie Smith	...	Gina
Linda Henry	...	Sandra Gangel
Jeillo Edwards	...	Rose
Tameka Empson	...	Leah Russell
Anna Karen	...	Marlene
Garry Cooper	...	Ronnie Pearce
Ben Daniels	...	Tony
Daniel Bowers	...	Trevor Pearce

Storyline

A tender love story set during a hot summer on a South-East London housing estate. Jamie, a relatively unpopular lad who bunks off school to avoid football, lives next door to Ste, a more popular athletic lad but who is frequently beaten up by his father and older brother. Such an episode of violence brings Jamie and Ste together: Sandra (Jamie's mum) offers refugee to Ste, who has to 'top-and-tail' with Jamie. Hence, the story tells of their growing attraction for one another, from initial lingering glances to their irrefutable love, which so magnificently illustrated at the end of the film. In deals with the tribulations of coming to terms with their sexuality and of others finding out, in light of Sandra's unwavering loyalty and defence of Jamie and the fear of repercussion should Ste's family find out. The plot is set against sub-texts of Sandra's desire to manage her own pub, and thus escape the estate, and of her new relationship with her hippy boyfriend Tony; and of Leah, the ...

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Plot Keywords:

neighbor | girl | glasses | bar | bare butt | 

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Taglines:

An urban fairytale.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexuality, pervasive strong language and some drug content

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Classics

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 October 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

Csodálatos dolog

Filming Locations:

Anchor Pub, Rotherhithe, London, England, UK

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$33,931 (USA) (11 October 1996)

Gross:

$1,449,934 (USA) (10 January 1997)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Channel Four Films, World Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

First film directed by Hettie Macdonald.

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Goofs

Mama Cass Elliot did not die from choking on a ham sandwich. She had a heart attack. There was a partially eaten sandwich in the room when she died, but she didn't choke on it.

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Quotes

Miss Chauhan: BALLS, Mr. Bennett!

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Connections

References What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

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Soundtracks

"Welcome To The World"
Music and Lyrics by Scott English and Martin Siegal
Sung by 'Mama' Cass Elliot

User Reviews

A Truly Beautiful Thing

A Truly Beautiful Thing to watch. The whole film is fantastic, for all areas, the hard-working, loving, caring single mother, the shy, nervous, unsure child, the popular but insecure, frightened, abused boy, the crazy neighbours, everything!

The film has some amazing scenes in it, especially the scene in the woods with the music - makes me cry and smile every time, the two young lovers are just wrapped up in themselves with no care in the world and it really shows through the acting and reactions of the actors, who obviously have such chemistry about them - and the music as well was fabulous and so poignant.

This is probably my second ranking film of this genre (possible my second favourite in all) the first goes to Get Real that applied more to me than this film did, though the film affected me in a similar way to Get Real. Get Real changed my life, Beautiful Thing helped it along.

I give this film a very good 9/10 (I never give 10 it may prevent others from trying to match or better it!)