Twin Town (1997)

Twin Town opens with wide sweeping shots of seaside Swansea; to be the place of action for the next one and a half hours. The serene setting with miles upon miles of old semi-detached ... See full summary »

Director:

Kevin Allen

Writers:

Kevin Allen, Paul Durden

Stars:

Llyr Ifans, Rhys Ifans, Dorien Thomas

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Llyr Ifans	...	Julian Lewis (as Llyr Evans)
Rhys Ifans	...	Jeremy Lewis
Dorien Thomas	...	Greyo
Dougray Scott	...	Terry Walsh
Buddug Williams	...	Mrs. Mort
Ronnie Williams	...	Mr. Mort
Huw Ceredig	...	Fatty Lewis
Rachel Scorgie	...	Adie Lewis
Di Botcher	...	Jean Lewis
Mary Allen	...	Olive
Paul Durden	...	Taxi Driver
David Hayman	...	Dodgy
Kevin Allen	...	TV Presenter
Brian Hibbard	...	Dai Reese
Morgan Hopkins	...	Chip Roberts

Storyline

Twin Town opens with wide sweeping shots of seaside Swansea; to be the place of action for the next one and a half hours. The serene setting with miles upon miles of old semi-detached housing is suddenly cleaved apart by two young lads tearing through the neighbourhood in a two tone BMW 525. Julian and Jeremy are in deep trouble. Their dysfunctional family scrapes together a living from their dole money and odd-jobs offered to their father. The boys have long since turned to drug abuse and car theft leading a happy-go-lucky life in downtown no-hoper city. In due course the plot thickens as the boys are out for revenge against wealthy club owner Bryn who is not particularly helpful in providing compensation when their father is hit by an accident when working on his premises. The boys are fairly imaginative when it comes to planning their strike, culminating in scenes which all dog-haters and karaoke loathers will love.

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Plot Keywords:

karaoke | drugs | compensation | revenge | joyriding | 

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Taglines:

An extreme comedy.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 May 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Cidade dos Gémeos

Filming Locations:

Llewellyn Steet, Neath Port Talbot, Wales, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$3,300,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$74,188 (USA) (30 May 1997)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Agenda, Aimimage Productions, Figment Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The actors who play "the twins" are, in fact, brothers, but not twins (as, indeed, are "the twins").

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Quotes

Terry: What the fuck does that mean Greyo?
Greyo: What does what mean?
Terry: That, "ambition is fucking critical."
Greyo: It say's "ambition is critical." There's no "fucking" in it.

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Connections

References Cocktail (1988)

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Soundtracks

"Downtown"
By Petula Clark

User Reviews

Not bad, but could have been a lot better

Danny Boyle is in many ways the British answer to Quentin Tarantino. Despite Boyle not having complete authority over TWIN TOWN, his trademarks are definitely present, and many parts of this film are truly excellent. However, the film as a whole seems to lack true continuity, as it seems to be a loose, simple plot formed by sporadic situations that the writers feel are funny (in many ways they are). Which brings me on to the Tarantino connection - one has to only watch 20 minutes of his films to realise the man is in love with situations - whether they be from circumstance or dialogue. However Quentin is the true master of this kind of film-making. A lesser creator will provide interesting and funny scenes, but with a taste of incompletion left in the mouth.

That said, TWIN TOWN is acted wonderfully, and the Swansea setting makes for some interesting and novel humour. Whereas some of the violence seems a little contrived, it is refreshing to see new kinds of film-making, and moreso to see it grow from the mind of Brits!