A proper British film that is more than the sum of its parts. Like the original ID it's not just about football hooliganism, but really takes on important issues about what it is to be British in 2016, and if I have a criticism at all it's that it maybe tries to take on too much - violence, gang culture, community identity, football losing touch with its grass roots, racism, fundamentalism...how can it not be important? But the film holds together as a thriller while also being a valid social document. In a way it reminds me of 1960s British new wave movies like This Sporting Life (again which was about so much more than sport), Saturday Night Sunday Morning, Kes, Loneliness of Long Distance Runner, IF and so on, it really belongs to that tradition. This blew me away, and I cannot believe it slips past the critics unnoticed. Also (no spoilers) the end really affected me emotionally, in a way I could not have expected.
Some people seem to hate it, and I can only think that's about politics, not the film itself. One of the few films recently that gives me any hope at all for the British film industry.
Some people seem to hate it, and I can only think that's about politics, not the film itself. One of the few films recently that gives me any hope at all for the British film industry.