A Way of Life (2004)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Amma Asante

Writer:

Amma Asante (writer)

Release Date:

12 November 2004 (UK)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

In the real world there are no happy endings

Plot Keywords:

Male Nudity | Social Worker | Single Mother | Vandalism | Racism

Awards:

9 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Stephanie James	...	Leigh-Anne Williams
Gary Sheppeard	...	Robbie Matthews
Nathan Jones	...	Gavin Williams
Dean Wong	...	Stephen Rajan
Sara Gregory	...	Julie Osman
Oliver Haden	...	Hassan Osman
Brenda Blethyn	...	Annette
Eli Williams	...	Rebecca Williams
Darcy Williams	...	Rebecca Williams
Lynsey Richards	...	Helen
Victoria Pugh	...	Social Worker
Amy Morgan	...	Karen Williams
Gareth Gethyn Evans	...	Evin
Philip Howe	...	Jacob
Ri Richards	...	Brenda Williams

Runtime:

91 min | Argentina:93 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Brazil:14 | Australia:MA | UK:15 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Cardiff, South Glamorgan, Wales, UK

Company:

AWOL Films Ltd.

Soundtrack:

Body Parts

Good material, wooden delivery

This film certainly had a lot of potential. The film certainly pulls no punches when it comes to portraying the main characters. We are shown their violence, racism and bigotry in depth. Not that they are averse to exploiting their own, as several episodes show.

Whilst the main characters certainly have many unsavoury characteristics the film does allow time to explore what made them what they are. Many factors are highlighted, lack of stable partnerships, low self-esteem, lack of commitment, lack of parenting skills, drugs, unstable violent backgrounds, unemployment, discrimination and lack of opportunities.

My main criticism of the film is not that it isn't well researched. The problem is in the production. The direction is so leaden and obvious. The characters have no space to develop and the director rams their points into your face. You could almost imagine that this was produced as a course material for a school sociology program.

The camera-work and sound tract only reinforce this. The angles and shots are all so daytime TV, zooming into faces for close ups in those confrontation moments, giving the obligatory 2 second scenic scene setting shots at all the appropriate moments. Need I say that the soundtrack is hardly subtly or seamlessly enmeshed.

All in all whilst this film has good intentions, good material and some good acting the whole thing feels poorly put together and ends up loosing a lot of its impact between the cracks in the production.