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Bullet Boy (2004)

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25 comments in total

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29 out of 34 people found the following comment useful :-
Brilliant if you're a Londoner, 14 January 2005

Author: squeakyorm from London, England

I wasn't expecting too much of this film before I saw it, but I have to say I was wrong to think it would be dull. Although American audiences -- and, in fact, non-London-dwelling audiences -- probably won't appreciate it for its wonderful depiction of east London, I find myself for once thankful that I live in Hackney. Some scenes around the Hackney Marshes and Lea Valley are astonishingly lush, to the extent that I had my doubts they were actually filmed there, because they present such a contrast to the grubby streets I'm used to, and which are portrayed in other parts of the film.

One of the other things that struck me was the accuracy of the dialogue -- I know this sounds a bit silly, but it's easy to get wrong, and in Bullet Boy there wasn't a word out of place. Lines like "that dog's like my brethren" are faintly amusing, but people do actually speak like that, and Bullet Boy got it exactly right.

I think Bullet Boy is a beautiful film, and have in fact only one gripe besides perhaps its inaccessibility for people who aren't English: the editing-over of a sign at a train station from the station name to 'Platform 2'. I'm an appalling pedant.

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24 out of 31 people found the following comment useful :-
Magnificent, 13 March 2005

Author: Axaxaxas_mlo from London, UK

Bullet Boy is the sort of film that deserves to be seen by far more people than are, unfortunately, ever likely to see it. It's utterly gripping the whole way through - almost every scene is filled an unbearably tense air of looming tragedy, as events spiral out of control. The cast (a mixture of professionals and non-actors) all give superb, deeply honest performances, most notably Ashley Walters and Claire Perkins.

Where most British films that strive for an air of realism fail by simply trying too hard, laying on the "grittiness" far too thick, Bullet Boy always seems completely natural, unforced and unfailingly true-to-life. While it's undeniably a fairly bleak and upsetting tale, the film is never boring, never depressing, never anything less than wholly involving. Crafting something genuinely special with a very limited budget, this is a great feature debut from documentary maker Dibb. You shouldn't see Bullet Boy because it's an "issue" film (although the issue it addresses is extremely important); you should see it because it's a brilliant film.

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12 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Fires mostly blanks..., 17 November 2005

Author: JoeytheBrit from Cambridgeshire, England

Saul Dibb's examination of the gun culture amongst Britain's 'Ghetto youth' is a well-meaning film that makes good use of authentic locations to tell a simple cautionary tale, but which is burdened with a predictable plot that fatally weakens the impact of its message.

Ashley Walters plays Ricky, son of a single mum and, in the absence of a constant father figure, object of admiration of his younger brother Curtis (Luke Fraser). As the film begins, Ricky is released from prison after serving time for stabbing a boy. Greeted at the prison gates by best friend Wisdom (Leon Black) and Curtis, Ricky returns to the mean streets of Hackney determined to go straight. Unfortunately, Wisdom accidentally clips the wing mirror of another youth's car, and from this trivial incident, a spiralling series of reprisals and repercussions culminate in pointless deaths.

The real strength of this film is in its depiction of the posturing of the young males unable to 'kick back' and let things ride when they feel they have been 'dissed'. The threat of a perceived lack of respect from their peers prevents them from doing so – even though they might want to – as the subsequent reputation for being soft would make life that much more difficult for them on the street. It's a stupid, destructive trap they have built for themselves over successive generations, and it is with this one aspect of the film that Dibbs and co-writer Catherine Johnson succeed.

That alone isn't going to carry any film very far however and, in addition to the mind-numbing predictability of the plot, the writers' habit of making equally obvious associations regarding the causes behind the explosion of gun culture in Britain make it seem like we're watching a film intended for young teenagers at times. For example we see young Curtis toying with his older brother's gun after playing shoot-'em-up video games; we also see Wisdom 's nemesis raising the stakes in the pair's own deadly game while Ricky enjoys an idyllic afternoon on the ice rink with his loving girlfriend Shea (Sharea-mounira Samuels), who represents his own real chance of survival. Comparisons are easily drawn, but such a lack of subtlety is a real drawback. Also, authority throughout the film is unfailingly depicted as white and vaguely adversarial – the police, the probation officer, the teacher – which transmits a dangerously subliminal (and quite probably unintended) message regarding the comparative power between the races and the consequent reasons for the position in which today's black youth finds itself.

On the plus side, the film does well to create a world that appears authentic and avoids the diverse and equally inaccurate pictures of London we find in Eastenders and Guy Ritchie gangster flicks. Dibb's documentary background is evident in his regular use of hand-held cameras to capture a real flavour of the streets and the council estate ambiance, while the cast are first rate, giving completely unaffected and convincing performances. Claire Perkins stands out as Beverly, Ricky and Curtis's timeworn single mother embarking on a tenuous romance with a reformed hood who has found God. Young Luke Fraser also gives a remarkably subtle performance as Curtis who, given his final action in the film, is its only real hope for the future. It's just sad, for both the jaded viewer and the film itself, that it is an action that doesn't quite ring true…

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11 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Treads familiar path but is worthy in the face of the UK's film and music scene obsession with making gun culture "cool", 19 April 2005
Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK

Having served his time for stabbing another teenager, Ricky is released from prison and collected by his little brother and his friend Wisdom. Arriving back in London, Wisdom accidentally damages a car of another young man, but Ricky makes him walk away when things escalate towards a fight. However, when Wisdom realises that the word on the street is that he is a p*ssy, he revisits the young man and shoots his dog dead. Ricky tries to resolve the situation to avoid getting drawn back into the violence that landed him in jail in the first place. Meanwhile, younger brother Curtis watches all these things with admiring eyes.

Basically if you can't work out where the film is headed just from my very basic plot summary then you simply haven't seen enough American ghetto movies and indeed, one of the weaknesses in this film is that it is predictable from not only the moment it starts, but even the moment you are in the lobby looking at the poster. The message is simple but an important one and it is one of the reasons you should try and see it. That it is predictable is surprisingly not a problem and somehow the film is still engaging throughout – and I'm not entirely sure why it manages to do it. I think what carries the film is how very natural and down to earth the whole thing is; it feels like real life, the characters feel like real people and for this reason it is engaging because we, the audience, care even if deep inside we know where it is going.

The writing and direction is a big part of making this work. The writing takes the "no way out of the ghetto" cliché and puts it across in such a way that it is not glamorised; the violence starts over nothing and is never anything more than petty and a total waste of time. The small scale of everything within the story is also engaging – the violence is not between "gangstas" "rolling" in "Escalades" or "Lexus" but rather teenagers who live in tiny flats with basic furniture and minor drug habits. Although the sentiment may match those of characters in "hood" movies, the real sense of the small is effective and convincing. The direction helps this, with no flashy camera-work and the feeling of London streets and cramped flats. To me this realism was important mainly because, in the UK, we are constantly assailed by a presentation of reality in R'n'B music of bling, expensive cars and women in shorts; meanwhile UK cinema we have an obsession on cool guns and gangsters that comes from "Lock, Stock" and countless copies. If anything the overwhelming of the market with such images and hype make it all the more important to have a film like Bullet Boy do good business to counter it.

Ironically, lead actor Walters is one of those that has had a part in presenting a life that is outside of the reach of nearly all of us (fast cars, guns, violence, drugs and girls) by his part in videos and songs with So Solid Crew. Indeed the group themselves have had their fair share of headlines over shootings and cars and I would like to think that in some way this film was a decision Walters made to try and redress the balance. Regardless of his motives though, Walters is strong; he is natural and convincing as a black teenager in a high rise world of posturing and trivia and he does it without glamorising it or showing a concern for keeping up his So Solid personae or image. He is given good support from Perkins, Fraser and Black among others – all of whom add to the feeling of a convincing portrayal of daily reality for many. They don't feel the need to play up to black stereotypes of anger and hardships and they are simply convincingly real people.

Overall this is a predictable film that treads a very familiar path but the natural delivery in all aspects mean it come across as convincing and engaging – simply put, we care and we stay with it for that reason. If nothing else, see it to try and counteract the perversion of reality and glamorisation of violence that is pushed in the name of selling records.

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Going straight, innit?, 26 April 2006

Author: paul2001sw-1 (paul2001sw@yahoo.co.uk) from Saffron Walden, UK

'Bullet Boy' is an understated drama about an ex-convict trying to go straight in London's black community. The piece is nicely assembled and acted, and makes good visual use of its Hackney setting, but there's nothing in the story which is ultimately surprising. I also have one quibble: the film features a fair amount of gun usage, but we don't see any underlying criminal activity, which is (I think) usually the root cause of shootings. On the other hand, one strength is that the world of the characters is not depicted as a squalid ghetto, but rather as a place in which one can imagine real people living in. Overall, this is not a bad film; but it is a little bland.

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Moving, with a bite of realism and a dose of moralism, 26 September 2005

Author: tez from Amsterdam, Netherlands

I would like to start off saying that I appreciated the movie for dealing with the black community in London. No rude cockney gangsters, catchy crime scams or laughably stupid dope dealers. The family this movie deals with is a single mum home with two sons, one just out of prison, the other still too young to be involved in anything hazardous, but looking up at his brother and already copying some of his ways.

I enjoyed the language and the characters who were all convincing and complex enough but, how carefully put down they were, the more obvious and stereotypical were the things happening to them. Everything going from bad to worse, who plays with fire is gonna get burnt. And then the ultimate contrast of either sinking into crime and sin (devil), or choosing the righteous path and go to church every Sunday (god).

This easy moralism hurt the rest of the film. It made things predictable. It was like a newspaper article collage, one shock after the other. It took away much of the complexity that I found in the characters themselves. It really is a shame because the development of the characters could have been much more subtle and would have fit in better with the style of the movie that deals with a gritty context matter but managed to use a soft and sometimes almost dreamy camera and score, not unlike other recent British films, such a 'Morvern Callar' and '16 Years of alcohol'.

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
A powerful, compelling and insightful film speaking to the youth of the nation, 21 April 2005

Author: davideo-2 from Birmingham,England

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

Ricky (Ashley Walters) has just been released from prison for stabbing another teenager.His pal Wisdom (Leon Black) and little brother Curtis (Luke Fraser) come along to pick him up and he ingratiates himself back into the community he's been apart from for a while.All he wants,after serving his time in prison,is to start again and re-build his life and possibly move away with his girlfriend Beverley (Claire Perkins) and for awhile this seems like a real possibility.But then,an accident involving a smashed wing mirror lands him and Wisdom in a spot of bother with a rival gang.You and I would just exchange insurance details,but in 'da 'ood',things just don't work that way and a tit-for-tat war ensues that builds up to end in tragedy.

This is such a small,independent film that it's a shame it probably won't reach out to a much broader audience,unless it ends up becoming a sleeper hit like The Full Monty,and lets all hope that happens.With the state of gun control/crime in the country at quite a shocking epidemic (especially in Nottingham!) Bullet Boy is,if nothing else,a very timely film released to speak out to the youth of Britain of it's shocking consequences.

Lead star Walters (formerly of So Solid Crew fame) is a very choice actor to play the role,as he previously served time for illegal firearm possession,and so he's sort of further re-paying his debt to society here.The main problem area of gun crime does seem to be in the black communities,so in the Hackney area of London is where the film is set.The script is made up almost entirely of characters spitting heavy black lingo that might be a bit over-whelming for the novice or for those simply not fond of that way of talking.The film presents a very real and gritty presentation of modern black culture and their place in society.

It pushes more-or-less all the right buttons,but possibly the biggest strength of the film is the compelling characters.Ricky is sincere and blatant in his efforts to go straight and promote peace to his 'brederin.'Wisdom is trapped as the guy who has to prove himself to those around him who deride him,not to mention Curtis as the innocent child on a collision course to be corrupted if the forces around him don't change.But the supporting players are very good too,such as Bev,Ricky and Curtis's bewildered,worn-out mum and her new boyfriend who has a chequered history of his own but has found God and hopes to inspire his following to those closest to him.They are very believable characters and,more-than-that,they are very real characters,and it sort of goes without saying that everyone involved gives fine performances to make them this compelling.

Just today,Tony Blair has told us that violent crime is down in the country,something I have a bit of trouble swallowing,but which may or may not be true all the same.But I get the feeling somewhere like the hood may be a place he hasn't made any effort to change,just an area where the problems continue but people make a note of 'avoiding.'Bullet Boy is a fictional story,but,the chilling thing is it could so easily be true and doubtless there are many cases where a story that is almost exactly the same does happen there in everyday life.In the end,the director throws it down to one of the youngest cast members to deliver the films most powerful scene of symbolism and social commentary by tossing the gun that has caused him,his family and his close friends so much misery and suffering into the river instead of going out with it and winding up another statistic like his brother,as if to say:For God's sake,stop killing each other and make peace.'It is very powerful and effective,much like the film itself.It's the best film I've seen so far this year,that's for sure.****

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Real, affected and nightmarish., 30 November 2005

Author: MrChi from United Kingdom

Saul Dibb's debut feature stars So Solid's Ashley 'Asher D' Walters as Ricky, a parolee returning to Hackney's infamous murder mile. He is hoping to remain on the straight and narrow but this proves difficult as he's re-encompassed by the same violent climate he left and the need to maintain honour while preserving his reputation is the code to live by.

There is little to fault this British Movie. Shot on 16mm and on a tight budget of ca.48k, what we are given is a fly-on-the-wall view of life on the streets and the futility of Britain's gun culture. This didn't have to be shot in Hackney, but anywhere would have suited the scenario of disadvantaged youths trying to keep their heads above water in the increasingly gangsterish streets of Britain.

Dibb, the director, is very careful not to preach to us. The closet similarities and comparisons made will point an out-dated and clichéd finger at John Singleton's 'Boyz in da Hood' and Spike Lee's 'Do The Right Thing'. Although these two films crystallised (inner) racial feuding and violence in America, Dibb keeps his message a little closer to his chest as the audience decide who's the true hero, villain or victim - if any. This film plays as a theatrically scripted tragedy, which is sensed from the opening where the young Curtis (Luke Fraser) goes to meet his paroled brother.

It is hard to pinpoint the film's genre and exactly what the plot is. Largely unknown actors, a purpose-built raggedy script (with plenty of improv) revolving on just-happen-to-be circumstances leads to a sense of a horrific reality. Here, kids try to become men too young, and violence is the sole key to respect even if it is borne from a childish dispute like a minor traffic incident as in the film.

It works and it works very well. All character development is sidelined for a streamed view of street life. Clare Perkins plays the mother who has no control over her boys despite her strenuous efforts, the reformed Preacher (Curtis Walker) and Wisdom (Leon Black) all have their own back story, which we are told in a sentence, focusing our attentions on the Brothers. Each character represents a social template in one of life's cycles, Ricky and Wisdom are the present and his younger brother could easily be the future while the rest of the cast represent those inadvertently embroiled in street politics and gun ethics.

Massive Attack's Robert Del Naja delivers a haunting theme to end the movie, as the filmmakers ask no questions but leave them in sight. Dibb, who is traditionally a documentary maker is all too aware of how to enter the psyche of gritty subject matter with previous works on street life and shop lifting he wants us to see all the angles, the choices these people make and their consequences. It is then up to us to draw our own conclusions.

Ricky wants to be the ideal brother for Curtis but the street will not let him. He wants to knock some sense into his over zealous friend Wisdom but loyalty won't let him. Curtis is a lovable character because he has the innocence of youth, which his environment is too eager to snatch as (peer) pressures encroach on him and his brother's good intentions are contrasted by the actuality of his actions. Curtis is the natural choice to become a Bullet Boy, like others around him and the responsibility is left to the one character that should traditionally have none.

This is a powerful fete in film-making and serves topic matter that is relevant and garnished with gritty realism that you cannot help but feel for all those involved.

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8 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
A kid with a good heart but a rough past gets out of prison only to find trouble back home., 20 April 2005

Author: (02hbartosik@worth.org.uk) from United Kingdom

The most immediate thing that struck me about this film was it's perfect imitation of life - unbelievably believable, this move was EXACTLY like life is like, the accents perfect, the language appropriate, the whole story fantastic. I agree that if you do not live in London or at least have contact to the underground world you may not understand the movie very well, but rest assured this is a milestone in a whole genre of English ghetto movies - if you've seen the film 'Juice' starring Tupac Shakur you'll see a lot of connections in structure and plot but at the end of the day it's a unique, brilliant, enjoyable and in my opinion, perfect film.

The actors are all skilled to the point where there acting is flawless - the 'bad guy' is not a generic evil psychotic skitzo, but rather just a down to earth nasty person. The hero, Ashley Waters, is lovable, conflicting and effortlessly cool as the friend, Wisdom, is both loyal but annoying at times (just like real friends can be!). The mother is loving and over protective (but not in a boring way, rather a sympathy evoking way which works excellently as she tries soooo hard to hide her pain) and the brother and his friend are both lovable and cool as well. A great film, on par with any Americano film, this is up there with Snatch, Lock Stock, Layer Cake and Trainspotting - it's different from all of them, but it is about crime and it is set in the slums of London, but rest assured it's original because I can't shake the feeling that stuff like this happens every day - even if it is a fascinating tale of revenge, deceit, horror and love. Ten stars! Go see now!

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3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
An impressive and striking debut feature from Saul Dibb, 11 March 2005

Author: Charlotte from London, England

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I saw Bullet Boy at a preview screening by Verve Pictures; I had been given the tickets and didn't know what to expect. The only thing I knew was that the main part was played by a member of So Solid Crew, Asher D (Ashley Walters), and so I was maybe a bit sceptical as to his acting abilities.

Ultimately, however, this film was brilliant: shocking, tender, wonderfully acted and beautifully directed. The dialogue is convincingly authentic and the camera work evoked a documentary. Ashley Walters is outstanding, his physical presence on film given weight by his subtle performance; Luke Fraser shines as his younger brother Curtis. The pervading sense that it is all going to end in an horrific manner, is tempered by the feeling at the end that there is also some hope for the future in the form of the younger boy, who attempts to escape from the endless cycle of gun crime.

I came out of this film with a sense of the huge disparity between different people's experiences of London; there's no glimpse of Richard Curtis here. It's an urgent and heart-breaking wake-up call about the realities of gun crime in the UK.

Go to see this.

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