Down Terrace   Starring: Julia Deakin and Michael Smiley Metrodome RRP: £15.99 MTD5541 Certificate: 15 Available 23 August 2010

When Karl and Bill get out of remand they vow to find the grass that put their criminal activities at risk. Without information they both strike out in all directions taking in friend and foe alike...

Down Terrace (2009 - 1 hr, 29 min, 16 sec) is a dark comedy from the twisted minds of writers Robin Hill and Ben Wheatley. The film was directed by Ben Wheatley and was the recipient of three awards.

It’s an odd film to begin with, as an independent film you’re never sure what you’re going to get. This film doesn’t get more independent, as it was filmed in Robin Hill's parents house, with his dad (Robert Hill) playing the main character's father. The rest of the cast is made up of either friends or acquaintances who would work on the cheap. When I started watching it I wasn’t sure I was watching a drama or a very dark comedy, this made more sense when I listened to the commentary as the choice was made to cast comedy actors in a dramatic role. Still, rightly or wrongly, I did find myself laughing throughout the film.

The plot is relatively simple as the father and son try to work out who grassed them up, mostly from the confines of their living room. Although you get the feeling that the father was once a player in London, he and his family have been consigned to running a two bit operation in Brighton. Even though they are villains, Bill (Robert Hill) has lost his zest for the life preferring to spend his time playing his guitar reminiscing about the good old days when drugs were profit free. His son Karl (Robin Hill) isn’t that interested in following in his father’s footsteps when he discovers that he is going to be a father. The whole family is held together in the firm matriarchal hand of the mother, Maggie (Julia Deakin), who is the only character in the film who acts like an adult.

There is some trepidation with an independent film, often they reach for a level that their budget will not attain, however Down Terrace obviously threw its money into the script and making the film look good, so what you end up with is an eminently watchable black comedy. As the actors know each other well the sense of both family and friendship is palpable.

The acting Laurels are difficult to attribute, but for my money it has to go to Robert Hill who puts in a blinding performance as the twisted and misogynistic patriarch. It’s only his second acting gig but he comes across as a professional, I kept trying to think what I’d seen him in, he has that easy familiarity of a good character actor. Moving away from favourite director, my favourite scene is with Robin Hill as Karl as he tries to find some letters he’s misplaced, he becomes more and more exasperated until all the emotion dissipates when he finds them; really it’s like a joke you have to be there to appreciate it.

There is nothing cheap about the look of the film or the directorial skill on show. If black comedy is your forte, then you could do worse than check out this class film.

The film does come with some extras, including an engaging commentary, usually I’d dip in and out of these to get the idea of where they are going, but this one I listened to all the way through.

The film comes with a choice of a 5.1 or 2.0 track, but as a character driven piece either does a good job. On the extra front you get a short film Robin loves Kerry (9 min, 46 sec), where robin suffers the angst of setting up home, There’s the original test footage for Bill and Karl (58 sec), a camera test (4 min, 04 sec), which is a scene from the film, there’s an extended sequence with Bill talking about the sixties (9 min, 50 sec), you also get the original festival trailer (1 min, 25 sec) and The Amazing Wizards (8 min, 02 sec) who I presume are the people who did the special effects, these are a series of funny skits with them showing their skills, or as this is funny, their lack - funniest thing on the disc.

The film turned out to be so much more than I expected, at turns tragic, mostly comic as it shows us a family in meltdown and not adverse to the odd bit of murder.

8

Charles Packer