Cemetery Junction (2010)

A 1970s-set comedy centered on three young working class friends in a dreary suburb of Reading.

Directors:

Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant

Writers:

Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant

Stars:

Christian Cooke, Felicity Jones, Tom Hughes

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tom Hughes	...	Bruce Pearson
Ricky Gervais	...	Mr. Taylor
Christian Cooke	...	Freddie Taylor
Ralph Fiennes	...	Mr Kendrick
Matthew Goode	...	Mike Ramsay
Jack Doolan	...	Snork
Steve Speirs	...	Sgt. Wyn Davies
Jessica Jones	...	Girl in Street
Madeleine Dunbar	...	Wife in Bar
Andrew Brooke	...	Husband in Bar
Burn Gorman	...	PC Renwick
Anne Reid	...	Freddie's Gran
Julia Davis	...	Mrs Taylor
Albert Welling	...	Mr. Waring
Katy Murphy	...	Mrs Waring

Storyline

It's 1973 in Cemetery Junction, a Reading suburb. Three working class lads, best friends, are coming of age. Freddie wants to rise above his station, taking a job selling life insurance, wearing a suit and tie. Snork works at the railway station and wants a girlfriend some day. Bruce talks of leaving but seems on track to work at a factory, drink and fight, and become like his dad, in front of the telly with beer on hand; and he's trying the patience of the police officer who gets him out of jams. Freddie's job leads the lads toward a few small changes. He runs across a childhood friend, Julie, his boss's daughter who's engaged to the firm's top seller. Can the lads break out?

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Plot Keywords:

beer | aspiration | train station | stationmaster | police officer | 

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Taglines:

Be Young. Be Free. Be Somebody.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some sexual material

Did You Know?

Trivia

Three years after making this movie, in which they play father and daughter, Ralph Fiennes and Felicity Jones played lovers in The Invisible Woman. In a 2013 interview with Jones and Fiennes on NPR, Jones said that it was "weird" and "very Freudian" to go from playing one relationship to the other, but Fiennes disagreed, saying "It's just a job. Come on."

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Goofs

The film is set in 1973, yet all of the trains seem are in liveries from the 1960's. (While it is true that the last of the crimson coaches weren't repainted until 1974, by 1973 almost all locomotives were blue and coaches blue or blue and grey.)

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Quotes

[first lines]
Mr Kendrick: Frederick Taylor. Freddie Taylor. Welcome to Vigilant Life Assurance. I see you grew up in Cemetery Junction. Went to Stone Meade, the worst school in the south of England.

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Connections

Referenced in The Seventies: Production and Costume Design (2010)

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Soundtracks

Four Walls
Words and Music by Marvin Moore and George Hubbard Campbell

User Reviews

Gervais and Merchant's best film work yet

I'm always surprised when a film I'd heard had mixed reviews at best, turns out to be so much better than I was expecting and Cemetery Junction is a great example of this.

It's an old fashioned feel good movie. Sure it's maybe a little twee in places and ties things up nicely at the end but what's wrong with that sometimes? Great casting with superb performances from the central few characters and again a stunning turn from Ralph Fiennes. How good an actor is that guy? Poignant, touching, both gently and laugh out loud funny in places, a great character driven plot and just very very good film making IMO. Great use of music too, which like Tarantino movies always adds massively to the overall appeal.

Can't recommend it enough. Gervais and Merchant should be very proud of themselves and I hope they're aware that this is a much better film than the box office takings would suggest.

Similar film styles would be East is East, Sideways and maybe, Letter to Brezhnev. If you liked those, watch this. You'll love it.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 April 2010 (UK)

Also Known As:

The Men at the Pru

Filming Locations:

Taylor's Bellfoundry, Freehold Street, Loughborough, Leicestershire, England, UK

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,328,877

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Sony International Motion Picture Production Group

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1