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THIS IS NOT A LOVE SONG Rating:   Director: Billie Eltringham Producers: Mark Blaney, Kate Ogborn, Simon Beaufoy, Paul Trijbits Writer: Simon Beaufoy Director of Photography: Robbie Ryan Cast: Michael Colgan, Kenny Glenaan, David Bradley Visit the IMDB page for full cast and crew |
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Review by: Warren Curry
11/10/02
Unlike some of my colleagues, I don't purposely avoid reviews of films that I am going to write about. Sometimes curiosity just gets the best of me, and I'm pretty confident that hearing others' opinions about a film won't influence my feelings (although the subconscious is known to work in mysterious ways). With that said, I'll admit that after viewing the British movie This Is Not A Love Song, I searched the Internet for any reviews of the film that might exist. Through this search I came across a couple of British outlets -- one that bashed the movie and the other that deemed it to be only average. As evidenced by my positive rating of the film, I respectfully but wholeheartedly disagree with most of the sentiments of these fellow critics.
This Is Not A Love Song is a thriller told with a horror aesthetic (reminding me of a collision of Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs and Walter Hill's Southern Comfort.). The story is simple enough: a Scottish man named Heaton picks up his Irish best friend, Spike, the day the man is released from jail. They are both petty crooks, but whereas Heaton is a clever, grounded individual, Spike is just a (in Heaton's words) "Looney Toon" with a penchant for inhaling the lovely aroma of aerosol cans (which does all sorts of wacky things to your mind). On their way to London, Heaton's stolen car runs out of gas in the British countryside, and when he tries to steal some petrol (as the Brits call it) from a farmhouse the trouble begins. Spike is responsible for an accidental murder at the house, and soon he and Heaton are on the run through the countryside as a vigilante mob --literally of the shoot first, ask questions later variety -- headed by the ruthless Mr. Bellamy are hot on their heels.
Maybe this is a British film made for American tastes, as I was able to overlook such things as questionable character development and unclear motivations. (Why exactly is Bellamy such a bloodthirsty bastard?). Simon Beaufoy's (who wrote The Full Monty, but is navigating much different territory here) script is a lean and mean machine, and director Billie Eltringham wrings all the tension out of it that she can. I'm starting to lose my taste for the look of digital video, but the format benefits this film as it lends a bizarre, ambient quality that gives some of the hunter/prey scenes in the woods a visual trait, which kept me thinking of Wes Craven's early shocker, Last House on The Left. (This movie is not nearly as depraved though.)
Most of the film is spent with Spike and Heaton, and their relationship is suitably intriguing. Although Spike is his best friend, Heaton clearly doesn't completely trust the man because of the simple fact that his companion has severe emotional problems. Michael Colgan plays Spike like he could be the long lost cousin of Ewen Bremner's Spud from Trainspotting, but with an increased element of danger. The interplay between the two characters really works and does add depth to an otherwise shallow (not necessarily a criticism here) script.
Obviously shot on a shoestring (in two weeks, no less), Eltringham stylistically goes for broke. She experiments with a bunch of tricks -- some work (when she, I think, straps the camera to Colgan's torso, pointing it at the man's face, in a particularly nail-biting scene) and some don't (the hyper-stylized, color drenched hallucination scenes), but they make the movie much more visually interesting than I would've ever imagined. And there are a few shots, when the men are forced to take umbrage in a cave, that I was at a loss to figure out how the director actually captured.
What can I say? I loved the action and
tension of this film, the performances of the two leads, and I
admired Eltringham's stylistic daring. (And an orchestrated version
of the Public Image Ltd. song of the film's title works very well
as score.) Most of the 90-minute running time feels akin to a
nightmare, and the movie can be pretty brutal, although not really
physically violent, in spots. Is there any moral to the story?
Well, not really, but heck, compared to most movies playing at
your local multiplex, this film has the resonant substance of
The Godfather. If nothing else, This Is Not A Love Song
is a great film to get your pulse racing, and in my opinion a
whole lot more.
(Screened at the 2002 AFI Film Festival)
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