ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

callumconnor99 I am so glad I finally got around to watching this title. It is by far the most original film with a gay central character that I have seen in a long while and I have seen plenty. Usually I tend to migrate towards foreign language films exploring gay subjects because their cultural take on gay life is oftentimes quite specific and original. I did not expect such originality from a British film and I can't understand how I missed it. To the naysayers on here I despair - it takes a brave person to write so convincingly and powerfully on a subject not explored before. The depiction of personal hatred and societal hatred was palpable and real. The making of revealed the myriad sources from which the idea had been researched and the significance of this tour de force really hit home. OK some of the acting is not quite on a par with more experience actors but the genuine grit and conviction in the performances made up for these excusable inadequacies. 10 out of 10 quite simply British at it's best. I could go on but I realise I am gushing - but I have to try and counter so much negative nonsense on here. Buy it, don't rent it and don't steal it off an illegal site (like a certain person I know did) - these film makers deserve to get every penny for their effort in the vain hope they make something as good again....

tony_0106 I'm going to start by saying that this film is one of the best examples of "deceptive advertising" as it was sold as a "Skins meets Latter Days" and it ended up being a dull story about disrupted teenagers. The lack of originality was the main plate.First of all that was not a gang by any means. It was simply a group of freaks vandalizing everything on sight and assaulting people just for fun. Gangs deal with drug trafficking, arms, robberies... You wanna watch a gang-related gay film try "Our Lady of the Assassins" that one does deal with the reality thousands of teenagers in gangs have to deal.Anyways, moving onto the characters none of them make anything good to the film. Cal was a complete fraud: Somehow "attracted" to his friend Jonno yet they never engage in anything and that sudden attraction to Olivier made no sense at all. Why would he help him in the first place? Love at first sight? It was a very ridiculous move. Jonno's attraction to Cal was way too obvious. So obvious that it makes you thing he was the "closeted gay trying to come out". During the first 20 mins. I thought they would eventually end up together. About Olivier could he be any more queerer? and well Nessa I don't even want to talk about her.However what made this film an unforgiven waste of time were those over-the-edge coincidences. Just look at this: Cal's boyfriend, Olivier, happened to be one of Scott's student. Scott hook up with the guy (Cal) who put his partner into comma while he was at the hospital. Oh what a coincidence! The filmmaker was trying to show his Gonzalez-Iñarritu's abilities but he failed big time.I wish I could have rated this 0/10.Cheers.

crazyheather41 I found this movie on Netflix and couldn't help but start watching it, the entire premise had sounded like it'd be a good movie, but i'll admit when I saw how low budget the indie flick had been I was a little nervous. Some movies, although a great premise, end up terrible due to their budget, so I expected the worst for this film! I am a sucker for all things low budget though, so I could not force myself to stop watching, and i'm glad I didn't because this movie was surprisingly good! When we were first introduced to Olivier I did NOT like him one bit, the character seemed too stuck up and just not someone I could wrap my finger around, and I was rooting for Cal and Jonno right from the beginning (when they were smoking in the car and got close like that I was like WOOHOO and rooting for one of them to just grab the other). Olivier's character did grow on me throughout the film, and in the end I loved the man and thought that him and Cal were very cute together. The directors and everyone did a great job portraying their relationship/romance, it was very nicely done and I definitely was glued to the screen watching it unfold.The female lead wasn't all that great, her acting bored me and I found myself being distracted with other things when she was on the screen. She tried too hard to play the "badass" role and she just couldn't live up to it, not in my opinion anyway. She did pull through in the end though, i'll give her that much, but that was like 30 seconds of good acting on her part so it's not that much of a compliment. The other actors weren't all that bad, but I will admit that the three lead males were impressive! Jonno was pulled off great, you could see the conflict in his eyes, and when he finds out about the baby at the end I think that emotion was pulled off perfectly. Very good acting on his behalf.I was impressed with the film, it did come together rather perfectly, and my emotions fell right in line with where they were supposed to be. I laughed when I was supposed to, was angry and upset when they wanted me to be, and sad of course when that was needed. The movie set me up and did a great job with impressing, and it's one that i'll most definitely be watching again!

treborlodge There are some long reviews on here that are bang on in their praise for this film to which I won't add another. The more negative reviews I simply don't get.This is energetic, urgent, vibrant street independent film making - an example of indie film working and succeeding to professionally pull it off. It speaks a truth that is visceral and resonates with a reality often not told or observed in the gay film pantheon. This feels like a film made with a bigger budget than I suspect it had. Bravo this is a film that deserves better attention and I have no doubt will go down in the annals as a significant film from daring writers, a eagle eyed editor, a blasting score and soundtrack, an interesting director and a ambitious producers. Kudos to you all.