Gypo (2005)

It charts the breakdown of a working class family when the teenage daughter befriends a refugee girl. Helen has been married to Paul for 25 years. They live a monotonous and frozen ... See full summary »

Director:

Jan Dunn (uncredited)

Writer:

Jan Dunn

Stars:

Pauline McLynn, Chloe Sirene, Paul McGann

4 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Pauline McLynn	...	Helen
Chloe Sirene	...	Tasha
Paul McGann	...	Paul
Rula Lenska	...	Irina
Tamzin Dunstone	...	Kelly
Barry Latchford	...	Jimmy
Freddie Connor	...	Tasha's Husband
Tom Stuart	...	Darren
Olegar Fedoro	...	Tasha's Father
Sean Wilton	...	Art Tutor
Angelica O'Reilly	...	Prostitute
Rebecca Clow	...	Terminal Hostess
Majid Iqbal	...	Illegal Worker
Ashley McGuire	...	Penny
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Josef Altin	...	Michael

Storyline

It charts the breakdown of a working class family when the teenage daughter befriends a refugee girl. Helen has been married to Paul for 25 years. They live a monotonous and frozen existence. Helen is desperate, damaged, and looking for change. Paul - bitter, hypocritical and bigoted, sick and tired of being in the poverty trap - is on the brink of a breakdown. His biggest fear is change. Into their lives comes Tasha, a Romany Czech refugee, awaiting her British passport and her chance for freedom - a concept taken for granted by all those around her. Told in three revelatory narratives, each from a particular character's point of view, reveals how the disintegration of an ordinary working class family finally comes to a head when unexpected emotions are unleashed.

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Plot Keywords:

fear | f rated | czech in uk | czech abroad | dogme 95 | 

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Taglines:

There are three sides to every story

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Genres:

Drama | Family

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 October 2006 (UK)

Also Known As:

Cigó

Filming Locations:

Margate, Kent, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

£300,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Medb Films, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Distant Eye Films

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

There was no script - all the dialogue in the film was improvised. The only guides were basic Contrary to some press, there was an entirely structured screenplay, with dialogue written in a prose format style under the writer/director who wanted to achieve spontaneous dialogue in the rehearsal process.

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Crazy Credits

Santa is credited "as himself".

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Soundtracks

If I Could Conquer You
Music & Lyrics by Christiane Bjørg Nielsen (as Christiane Bjørg-Nielsen)
Arrangements by Flemming Borby
Performed by Labrador
Produced by Flemming Borby

User Reviews

Crass

I've given it 2, but even then I find it hard to justify such a high mark. I had high hopes for this film, having read reviews in which it was praised for presenting a refreshing and original take on the refugee/asylum issue. I'm sorry, but for me - a die-hard liberal who should have lapped up its messages - it simply didn't deliver. Stylistically, it was awful to watch: more goofs and blunders and continuity slips than I could count. The script was terrible: it seemed like a middle-class film-maker's idea of how working-class people speak and behave. It sounded like a workshop piece from a creative writing class. The characters didn't work, either. Not a single one of them was remotely believable - just a whole bunch of stereotypes. And despite a stellar cast, the acting was awful - which, I would guess, was largely to do with the direction, and not a little to do with the script. The whole thing failed to move me in any way - except when it came to ejecting the disc and taking it back to the shop.