Iffy (2004)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Paul Cons

Writer:

Paul Cons (writer)

Genre:

Short | Drama

Plot:

A gritty docudrama following a day-in-the-life of a heroin addicted homeless man in London's West End. |

Plot Keywords:

Heroin | Homeless | One Word Title | Character Name In Title

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Russell Mabey	...	Iffy
Mem Ferda	...	Ben (sex abuser)
James Backway	...	Young Iffy
Victor Gardener	...	Iffy's Dad
Chris Ryman	...	Keyworker (as Christopher Ryman)
Alex Moreno	...	Homeless Man
Valery Cons	...	Passer By
Terry St. Clair	...	Street Performer
Sam Walsh	...	Boy
Nicola Delaney	...	Mother
Bernard Cons	...	Businessman

Runtime:

UK:12 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

West End, London, England, UK

Company:

Cons Films

Fly On The Wall ?

Before I say anything else I should perhaps explain to foreign readers what The Big Issue is . It's a magazine that homeless people sell on street corners in large towns and cities where they're allowed to keep most of the profits . There are criteria that must be followed ( Apart from being homeless of course ) one is that you must be polite to the general public and stone cold sober . It's absolutely disgusting that the sellers of The Big Issue are as common on our streets as red pillar boxes and double decker buses

Anyway I'm digressing . IFFY is the title character of our story who's a practising heroin addict who's just found out he's been taken off his methadone program because of his continual late attendance . So the story revolves around Iffy's day as he stands in a town centre selling The Big Issue and looking for his next hit . What I liked about this short is its fly on the wall realism . As Iffy shout " Big issue , big issue " people walk by him trying to pretend he's not there . In a later sequence he's not selling anything and is asking passers by for money , begging in other words and everything about this sequence is so utterly natural I can't believe these people are extras - They're real members of the public

If this was the entire story I would have been deeply touched by it , however there is a serious spanner in the works where two characters are introduced - A child molester and his silent victim . It's suggested that the young boy is Iffy's son and if so by becoming a heroin addict Iffy has allowed his son to suffer the worst fate imaginable which means he deserves as much sympathy as the perpetrator of these deeds - zero sympathy

Update: Someone pointed out to me that the young boy is Iffy when he was a boy and not his son . Still no excuse for Iffy becoming a junkie though