Review of Nil By Mouth

Introduction

Nil By Mouth is Gary Oldman`s first adventure from the director`s chair. Moving him away (for a short time at least) from a career of playing the evil villain in many Hollywood productions, he stepped behind the camera to make this gritty drama set in London. He wrote the script for it too.

The story is one of various sorts of addiction - drugs, alcohol, violence, crime. It`s unflinching, pulls few punches and the dialogue is almost a constant barrage of swearing (I think I read somewhere that there`s about 4 swear words per minute on average!) If this is not your thing, stay well away from this film.

Video

A 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer which looks good. I say "looks good" because the film has a very grainy, grimy look to it, but this was almost all intentional given the nature of the film. There`s also some print damage, but for once it`s not really annoying, as it just looks kind of right in the context of the film.

"Gritty" films tend to look gritty, and this one does, with lots of hand held camera work, a really drab looking London, grim tower blocks where the sun never shines and a world where all appears to be doom and gloom.

Audio

A DD5.1 soundtrack is our only option here, and its main job is to bring us glimpses of Eric Clapton`s score (still unreleased on CD!) as well as some appropriate music which sets the right tone for the film. There is some good atmospheric sound now and again, but this film is really all about the dialogue, and that comes across perfectly when it`s supposed to.

Features

No extras whatsoever, which is an absolute travesty for such a film.

Conclusion

Nil By Mouth is a powerful film and possibly a harrowing experience to watch. But watch it you should. This is not the London of Snatch or Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. This is the real side of London, which you`d love to think didn`t exist, but it does. There are families who live like this and interact in this way. People do talk like Oldman`s characters, and it seems that there`s plenty of autobiography in the film.

The performances from all involved are excellent. Kathy Burke won an award at Cannes for her appearance in this film, and it`s easy to see why. If you only know her from working with Harry Enfield or French & Saunders then you might be in for a bit of a shock, but she seems like a natural for the role. Ray Winstone has played many similar characters to his role, but he still brings something fresh here. The rest of the cast also bring something real to their roles, including Laila (Maureen) Morse (Oldman`s sister) in her first ever acting role. You may now know her from EastEnders, or comedy show Honky Sausages.

So all in all a hard film to watch, but one that you really should watch. The DVD gives us a fine transfer and soundtrack, but absolutely nothing else. This is a shame, as it would have been nice to see interviews at the very least, but it was not to be. Recommended.