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What was the last film you watched?
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<blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 409474" data-attributes="member: 23"><p style="text-align: center"><strong><span style="font-size: 22px">Dockers</span></strong> (1999)</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fa.ltrbxd.com%2Fresized%2Ffilm-poster%2F1%2F5%2F2%2F2%2F9%2F7%2F152297-dockers-0-460-0-690-crop.jpg%3Fk%3D6bf0186760&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=44bf5b9226a3291abd3c732c66819b587c6cdf7dd3428dd136f82e4efbe374bf&ipo=images" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>The first thing that grabbed me about this film was the very large number of writers. A bigger team seemed to be involved in this than would write an American sitcom. The only two names I recognised were Jimmy McGovern and Irvine Welsh. This became clear at the end when text on the screen informed the viewer that the film was the first project of a group of the sacked dockers, some of whom were involved in writing. Reading up on it, this was apparently "an experiment in 'democratic television'", and a little of the process can be seen here with Jimmy and a few of the writers:</p><p style="text-align: center"><strong>[MEDIA=youtube]6A1o0pUo57M[/MEDIA]</strong></p><p></p><p>It's wonderfully written. I feared the number of writers might muddy things but it's a very intimate film. Casting and performances, too, are spot-on. There were a few familiar faces: Ricky "Bobby Grant" Tomlinson, Lee "Dodger" Ross and Peter "Bill Webster" Armitage being the best-known to me. Incidentally, when I read Peter Armitage's name on screen, I confused him with Peter <em>Adamson</em> (a nice bit of casting, I thought, with him being from Liverpool) and spent the first third of the film marvelling at how young the Len Fairclough actor looked with his hair dyed. Then it dawned on me it wasn't him at all (it was Ken Stott). It's a little bizarre to see Ricky Tomlinson playing a scab for part of the film when it would be an anathema to his <em>Brookie</em> character (and no doubt Ricky himself).The lesser-known (to me) faces were great too. Crissy Rock was given some really nice moments and did good things with them.</p><p></p><p>As a Jimmy Mac project, this is typically political, edgy, realistic and proudly Liverpudlian. I found it fascinating to watch the first act without a clue what was really going on, slowly fitting the pieces together. There's very little information that's spoon-fed to the audience. We just discover them organically as they go about their lives.</p><p></p><p>I knew very little about the Dockers' Strikes so I found the film informative. Watching early <em>Brookside</em> has given me a taste for the union politics and there's plenty of that here. We see families torn apart by different viewpoints and really get a sense of the devastation caused. The fallout has parallels with McGovern's earlier <em>Hillsborough</em>, which I watched very recently, and also with <em>Pride</em> which has the backdrop of the Miners' Strike of the mid-Eighties.</p><p></p><p>Worth viewing for the background and unique production process alone. Besides which it's a great film.</p><p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">[MEDIA=youtube]-a2IPYTa0mY[/MEDIA]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mel O'Drama, post: 409474, member: 23"] [CENTER][B][SIZE=6]Dockers[/SIZE][/B] (1999) [IMG]https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fa.ltrbxd.com%2Fresized%2Ffilm-poster%2F1%2F5%2F2%2F2%2F9%2F7%2F152297-dockers-0-460-0-690-crop.jpg%3Fk%3D6bf0186760&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=44bf5b9226a3291abd3c732c66819b587c6cdf7dd3428dd136f82e4efbe374bf&ipo=images[/IMG][/CENTER] The first thing that grabbed me about this film was the very large number of writers. A bigger team seemed to be involved in this than would write an American sitcom. The only two names I recognised were Jimmy McGovern and Irvine Welsh. This became clear at the end when text on the screen informed the viewer that the film was the first project of a group of the sacked dockers, some of whom were involved in writing. Reading up on it, this was apparently "an experiment in 'democratic television'", and a little of the process can be seen here with Jimmy and a few of the writers: [CENTER][B][MEDIA=youtube]6A1o0pUo57M[/MEDIA][/B][/CENTER] It's wonderfully written. I feared the number of writers might muddy things but it's a very intimate film. Casting and performances, too, are spot-on. There were a few familiar faces: Ricky "Bobby Grant" Tomlinson, Lee "Dodger" Ross and Peter "Bill Webster" Armitage being the best-known to me. Incidentally, when I read Peter Armitage's name on screen, I confused him with Peter [I]Adamson[/I] (a nice bit of casting, I thought, with him being from Liverpool) and spent the first third of the film marvelling at how young the Len Fairclough actor looked with his hair dyed. Then it dawned on me it wasn't him at all (it was Ken Stott). It's a little bizarre to see Ricky Tomlinson playing a scab for part of the film when it would be an anathema to his [I]Brookie[/I] character (and no doubt Ricky himself).The lesser-known (to me) faces were great too. Crissy Rock was given some really nice moments and did good things with them. As a Jimmy Mac project, this is typically political, edgy, realistic and proudly Liverpudlian. I found it fascinating to watch the first act without a clue what was really going on, slowly fitting the pieces together. There's very little information that's spoon-fed to the audience. We just discover them organically as they go about their lives. I knew very little about the Dockers' Strikes so I found the film informative. Watching early [I]Brookside[/I] has given me a taste for the union politics and there's plenty of that here. We see families torn apart by different viewpoints and really get a sense of the devastation caused. The fallout has parallels with McGovern's earlier [I]Hillsborough[/I], which I watched very recently, and also with [I]Pride[/I] which has the backdrop of the Miners' Strike of the mid-Eighties. Worth viewing for the background and unique production process alone. Besides which it's a great film. [CENTER] [MEDIA=youtube]-a2IPYTa0mY[/MEDIA][/CENTER] [/QUOTE]
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