Anyone else agree that the cinematography in the film was excellent? The combination of the ultra wide shots and the grading worked brilliantly.
I thought this film was very good. Don't know why people didn't like it.....although I can understand that it does look like a typical Danny Dyer gangster film from the title and the DVD cover.
I thoroughly agree with you regarding the photography, even though I thought the film itself was terrible!
The City looked beautiful, and all those 'non-bits' of London that skirt around it took on a life of their own. (Non-Londoners probably don't realise the effects of the upheaval that the encroaching City and its environs have had on the old East End and its community - one thing this film did show was the 'wasteland' that has developed, where people used to live and work.)
Yeah I agree too. I think you're also right in that people's expectations were different from the misleading dvd cover so most people's experiences were negative from the start. A lot of people hiring this may be looking forward to an upbeat night in with good food and a few beers with mates, or couples who enjoy escapist gangster movies like the business or guy ritchie. I would share the same initial disappointment.
I watched this on my own though and accepted pretty quickly that it was going to be 'different'. I liked this about the film and, though it covered a few uneasy subjects, I enjoyed the film and the qualities you mentioned above along with the pacing, the storylines and the uncertainty as to where the film was going.
For me, there was one lapse, which was where the two building jumpers meet on the ground floor - this stuck out a mile as a badly acted scene.
The rest was very good, whether you like the characters and their stories or not. I thought James Lance was astonishing. Danny Dyer was good, though from his hard man documentaries on UK TV at the moment he seems like a bit of a non-character in real life - just sinking back into a cockney stereotype as if this gives him personality. It's like the fame has affected him.
I'm glad to find a positive thread on this mostly negative film board though!