Grow Your Own (2007)

An English community gets testy when a refuge family is granted a plot of land on which to grow vegetables.

Director:

Richard Laxton

Writers:

Frank Cottrell Boyce (screenplay), Carl Hunter (screenplay)

Stars:

Benedict Wong, Eddie Marsan, Omid Djalili

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Benedict Wong	...	Kung Sang
Eddie Marsan	...	Little John
Omid Djalili	...	Ali
Alan Williams	...	Kenny
Philip Jackson	...	Big John
Pearce Quigley	...	Eddie
John Henshaw	...	Charlie
Olivia Colman	...	Alice
Joanna Scanlan	...	Barbara
Sarah Hadland	...	Carla
Roland Manookian	...	Mike
Diveen Henry	...	Miriam
Mel Raido	...	Nick
Sophie Stanton	...	Debbie
Sophie Lee	...	Phoenix

Storyline

Political refugees are given allotments as part of a scheme to help them fit into the local community. Reaction is mixed amongst the allotment holders of Blacktree Road, ruled with a rod of iron by committee chairman and ex-cop Big John, who bullies his son, known as Little John. Mobile phone company employees Carla, a go-getting bitch, and her dim young assistant, Mike, arrive at the allotments, offering five grand for one of the plots to make way for a phone mast. It is obvious that the sacrifice will be made by one of the new-comers. John is not keen for it to be Iranian Ali, because he is a qualified doctor, who gives free advice. However, Ali and his family are arrested as unsuccessful asylum seekers and John turns his attention to the plot given to Kung Sang, a traumatised oriental whose young children tend to communicate on his behalf. John's bullying treatment of his son over the latter's interest in African Miriam, and his strict adherence to the rules - including the ...

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Plot Keywords:

immigration | gardening

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Taglines:

You never know where you'll find your roots.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 June 2007 (UK)

Also Known As:

The Allotment

Filming Locations:

Caryl Street, Toxteth, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warp Films, Art in Action, UK Film Council

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

"Big Spender"
Written by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields
Performed by Peggy Lee

User Reviews

Give it a go. You might like it.

While it's not exactly a film that is going to set the world on fire with it's originality, "Grow Your Own" is a perfectly OK drama/comedy. (Note, it is a drama/comedy rather than a comedy/drama. There is a difference.)

The trailer would have you believe that "Grow Your Own" is a film concerned with British eccentrics, stuck in their ways, perturbed by the influence of foreigners on the little piece of England they call the Allotment. Er... Actually that is exactly what it is about (clichés ahoy!), but it is the sometimes very tragic human stories behind the clichés that make "Grow Your Own" interesting enough.

The cast is made up of the same faces that are always turning up in British films. (Philip Jackson, Eddie Marsan, John Henshaw, Olivia Colman, Omid Djalili, et al.) All of them perfectly, and probably obviously, cast.

Not world breaking, but a perfectly amiable film for a quiet afternoon at the cinema. Yes, it is another, I'm assuming, lottery funded British movie of no interest to anybody outside of the British Isles, but give it a go. You might like it.