NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

cageybird I first watched this when it came out in 1997. It was pretty powerful to me, and I just couldn't watch it again for a long time. I was young and dumb then, but all I could remember was my boyfriend at the time fell asleep and I bawled my eyes out.So this week I finally geared up to watch it again...And it smashed my heart into pieces again, with no less impact... This film is so hard to write about. Tin-Pot dictators who are kings of their own castles, and the women who support them.... What broke my heart was our 'heroine' played by Kathy Burke, the victim of her nasty, violent husband... He beats the sh*t out of her, she throws him out, he begs to come back, and you are just f**king cheering her on.... The next scene, he's back, all's good, no big reconciliation scene... This could have been the movie of my childhood... Drama, police, strength, followed by some mystery process and everything back to 'normal'. I felt like Oldman was watching my childhood then put it on screen.... This film has stayed with me for 20 years and I have never seen a truer portrayal of casual domestic violence. Kathy Burke was f**king out of this world as a strong, yet ultimately trapped woman, and Ray Winstone was a tour-de-force, literally, as a man who doesn't understand his own motives, who never will..... For me this is THE definitive British domestic violence film

Jack Hawkins (Hawkensian) Don't be mistaken, this is not another piece of British scuzzploitation, far from it. Although it appears comparable on face value, it certainly isn't within the lowly sphere of Rise of the Footsoldier or The Football Factory. The film concentrates on Ray (Ray Winstone), his wife Valerie (Kathy Burke), mother-in-law Janet (Laila Morse), brother-in-law Billy (Charlie Creed-Miles) and best friend Mark (Jamie Foreman). Winstone and Burke are both tremendous, they share scenes – one in particular – of harrowing intensity. Ray is a man consumed with rage and jealousy, emotions that have most likely followed him throughout his sorry existence. To summarise the film's premise/narrative, it is essentially a depiction of the causes and consequences of his latest brutal outburst. Winstone's performance is a piece of realist brilliance; some may say he's one-dimensional, but he really is a rather good actor. Nil By Mouth's portrait of a deeply violent, self-destructive man is one of the most frightening and brutal I've ever seen, more so than even Robert De Niro in Raging Bull (1980).In a film of hapless victims, Ray's wife Valerie suffers to the greatest extent. Burke portrays a woman completely servile to her husband who unfortunately enables his tyranny by interminably tolerating his wayward, selfish behaviour. It is Kathy Burke's moments that are the most moving, chiefly a scene where she desperately tells a white-lie: it's genuinely upsetting.Another interesting character is Mark. Foreman's character is a vapid parasite, a little abettor of a man who's codependent on Ray and his tempestuous emotions.The dialogue of Gary Oldman's script has ample profanity, and I really mean ample, with a combination of in excess of 80 c*nts and 428 f*cks, it's the most profane film ever made. Amongst all the cockney bellowing however are monologues of real poignancy, most notably one delivered by Winstone in which he speaks of his awful, putrid father, reminding the viewer that the misery they've witnessed is a toxic generational cycle that's largely inescapable. One criticism of Oldman's script/narrative is that it is a trifle convoluted at 128 minutes, there are a few scenes that contribute little or nothing to the film, including an annoying Apocalypse Now re- enactment and an annoying shouty scene in a dry cleaners (both scenes feature this repellent little tattooed man with a grating hoarse voice.)The film is rightfully spared of romanticism, it's completely devoid of poetic licence, what you see is pure, candid realism. Ironically, the film isn't pure at all, it's gritty and unrestrained in its depiction of violence and vulgarity; one moment being particularly horrifying. To criticise the film for being 'unfocused' is missing the point. To me, it was an almost non- linear insight into the human condition, a film woven from the personal experiences of Gary Oldman and delivered with the utmost conviction from Burke, Winstone and indeed the whole cast.85%www.hawkensian.com

Terrell Howell (KnightsofNi11) It's always a fun experience to watch an actors shift to the director chair. Such is the story behind Nil by Mouth, the directorial debut of Gary Oldman, one of the finest actors working today. Oldman himself does not appear in the film, but a whole collection of fantastic actors do instead. The film is a brutal story of a dysfunctional family living in London. This distraught and detached family struggles to stay together, having to battle one brothers heroin addiction, anothers short temper and violent tendencies, as well as the general debauchery that occurs within the lives of these people. This isn't a pleasant film and it isn't a happy film. It's a brutal depiction of London working-class districts and it will certainly disturb you to your core.The brutality of Nil by Mouth is unheard of. The film is a non-stop stream of cursing, graphic drug uses, and despicable violence. The film never lets up on the atrocity, leaving you no time to catch your breath. It's a fast moving film; one that doesn't stop to explain things and doesn't spell everything out for you. It's a completely character driven story with more character development in it than actual events occurring. Yet, enough happens to make the film plenty interesting. It slows down towards the middle as it sets up for its somber ending that leaves you with a strange and uneasy feeling in your stomach.Now, I'm always up for a great character driven story, but you have to be prepared for a lot going into Nil by Mouth. The thing is, the characters in this film are not likable in the least. They are the most despicable, deplorable, horridly atrocious people you've ever laid eyes on. Apart from them being sleazy and unattractive, they all possess the most unflattering personalities. The film presents a very strange family dynamic, having the characters constantly switch between love and hate for one another. Billy, the brother with the terrible heroin addiction, has his own mother give him drug money and also provides him with a place to shoot up. This seems like the most brutal form of motherly love until the two scream at each other a scene later, throwing the most horrendous profanities at one another. It is indeed some of the strangest relationships you could ever observe, teetering on being farcical at times, yet being sincerely compelling at other times.Overall, it is hard to become attached to the characters in Nil by Mouth. They certainly tell a fascinatingly twisted story, but don't expect to find any sympathy left in your heart when it's all over. This film disturbs me more than entertains me, but that is obviously the point. It is so harrowing and so horrendous that I can't guarantee you will want to watch it again once it's over. I'm not sure that I do, but I don't regret watching it by any means. Gary Oldman needs to try his luck with directing again one of these days, because his first attempt has gone pretty well.

paul2001sw-1 Gary Oldman has only written and directed one film, but 'Nil By Mouth', a visceral and ferociously unsentimental portrait of south London's criminal underbelly, reveals a considerable talent in both departments. Ray Winstone and Kathy Burke won most of the plaudits, but in truth, it's an ensemble piece, and all of the cast are excellent. When the colour of the story turns from dark to pitch black about two-thirds of the way through, the viewer is it by a punch reminiscent of those being thrown on-screen. The film reminded me of Mike Leigh's Naked, another movie about a sociopath in London; but whereas Leigh's protagonist was fiercely intelligent and stubbornly attractive in spite of his monstrous behaviour, Winstone plays a man who, while very human, is too far gone to possess any possibility of salvation, and it's arguable that the film is a little too long, given the fact that the audience cannot like this man. But it's still a (literally) striking and horrific movie; and it's a shame that Oldman has not been tempted to get behind the camera since.