1234

"Good"

1234 Review


A charming tone and likeable characters make this film thoroughly engaging, with its dry sense of humour and authentic look at the difficulty of launching a music career. But writer-director Borg seems to loose his grip on the narrative in the final act.

Stevie (Bonar) is a slightly nerdy call-centre worker who really wants to be a singer-guitarist in a band with his eccentric drummer pal Neil (Baynton). They invite another guitarist, Billy (Bew), join them, along with his bass-playing friend Emily (Marshal). And after discovering that they work well together, they make a demo and book a few gigs. But will they ever make enough money to give up their day jobs? And how will Stevie cope with the fact that he's falling for Emily, who clearly needs to dump her obnoxious boyfriend (Maythan)?

From the start, Borg creates a superbly realistic atmosphere that draws on the characters' senses of humour and often jaggedly funny interaction. It's an upbeat story, thoroughly entertaining and also hugely involving due to the wry observations and bracingly down-to-earth performances. Bonar holds the film together effortlessly as the nice-guy Stevie who somehow rubs Billy the wrong way. Their brittle conversations are terrific.

Meanwhile, Baynton is hilarious as the guy who says whatever's on his mind, even when he probably shouldn't ("If I wasn't in this band, this would be my new favourite band!"). And Marshal gets the most complicated role as the musician-artist with so many irons in the fire that someone's bound to get hurt. The film is inventively and skilfully shot and edited, giving the actors space to explore the characters while peering under the surface.

It's so good, in fact, that it's a real shame that the story slips away. A couple of contrived plot turns start to wear us down, and we begin to tire of the blackout inter-titles after number 10. Although the situations remain utterly real (the gig with five people applauding is brilliant) and the characters remain bracingly genuine and sympathetic, when the film's tempo begins to slow down and get a bit vague, we quickly lose interest. Even so, this is a particularly well-made indie with a terrific, fresh cast.



Facts and Figures

Genre: Dramas

In Theaters: Friday 17th October 2008

Distributed by: Carson Films

Reviews

Contactmusic.com: 3 / 5

IMDB: 5.0 / 10

Cast & Crew

Director: Giles Borg

Producer: Simon Kearney

Starring: Ian Bonar as stevie, as Emily, Kieran Bew as Billy Nixon, Brendan Hughes as Gallery Owner

Also starring:

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