Credited cast: | |||
![]() |
Tracy Brabin | ... | Gaynor |
![]() |
Mohammed Rafique | ... | Naseema's Father |
Rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
![]() |
Miriam Ali | ... | Naseema's Mother |
Dean Andrews | ... | Derek | |
![]() |
Samina Awan | ... | Naseema |
![]() |
Liam Barr | ... | Sean's Mate |
Liam Boyle | ... | Steve | |
Nichola Burley | ... | Michelle | |
Tom Hudson | ... | Adam | |
Ryan Leslie | ... | Sean | |
Matthew McNulty | ... | Shane (as Michael McNulty) | |
Peter McNeil O'Connor | ... | Pete (as Peter O'Connor) | |
![]() |
Wasim Zakir | ... | Yousif (as Was Zakir) |
Adam has grown up in a racial prejudiced community. Naseema belongs to a generation of Asian youth who have taken up violence. They want to break free of the small town inhibitions and can't avoid their mutual attraction, starting a relationship which threatens to bring down their families and themselves. Written by Anonymous
To judge by the comments here, it's one of those films you indeed either love or hate. I loved it; to me, coming from the north of England, the characters and dialogue were utterly convincing and compelling. (Maybe because the decent, fair-minded chap who ran the wallpaper shop reminded me of my Dad... unfortunately some of the other characters, with their odious and ignorant views, I recognised too.)
To me, the only problem was the over-reliance on coincidences (oh, so Greek drama). But I liked the fact that many of the expected clichés were avoided.
So, Hollywood it ain't. If you like your films smartly scripted and smoothly acted, you may well hate the Loach-style rough edges.
But for me, this raw and bluntly honest film was one of the most powerful pieces of cinema of the year. And, actually, excellently acted. Throughout I kept saying, that's what it's like. That's just what they do. That's exactly what they say. And, by gosh, I wish it wasn't.