Dir. Jason Ford, 2004, UK, 88 mins
Cast: Jordan, Nathan Thomas, Katharine Peachey
Much like Quentin Tarantino's oft-imitated Pulp Fiction, New Town Original opens with a dictionary definition of the title's two terms. But viewers fearing another bodged British crime film will be relieved that this first cinematic venture for fledgling production company New Town Films, despite featuring a group of four fresh-faced urban youths, does not aspire to be the next Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels. Instead of wowing its audience with the spectacle of guns and gangsters, New Town Original focuses its attention on unremarkable characters facing familiar dilemmas.
Indeed, the main character Mick (played by newcomer Elliot Jordan), who lives alone in his nondescript home town and works a dull nine to five office job, believes he fits the description 'Ordinary Joe' so perfectly that it causes him frequent bouts of panic. His family doctor prescribes him a mild prozac to ease his anxiety, but his condition worsens when he gets involved with Nikki (Peachey), a sparky brunette whose ex-boyfriend Si has a reputation for being something of a loose cannon. Acting on the advice of his best mate Johnno (Thomas), Mick lies low in his dingy flat expecting brutal reprisals from Si if he ventures out in public.
First-time writer-director Jason Ford has noted his belief that "the threat of a violent act is much more powerful than the act itself". Keeping what little violence there is in his film mainly off-screen, Ford follows through his claim by concentrating on Mick's internal torment. Mick's fear of Si is communicated clearly enough both audio-visually - the sound of heavy breathing and an ominous, Lynchian drone accompany images of Mick's overactive imagination - and by what Mick says and does, but unfortunately for the film's dramatic weight it is not shared by the viewer. Si's threat is undermined by the film's otherwise bright and breezy, often comical tone, and although we know that Mick's plight is heading towards a violent denouement (the first thing we hear in the film is the sound of a woman pleading for someone to help her wounded son) one never feels that the story is in danger of veering towards out-and-out nastiness. Mick's paranoia itself is sometimes played for laughs. One well-executed scene at Mick's office begins with him fearing the ring of his telephone only to find out eventually that it's not Si on the other end but his rather less threatening colleague Gwen.
Indeed, the lighter moments in Ford's slightly over-complicated script are its most appealing ones, and despite lacking cogency as a work of sustained drama, New Town Original remains an honest and unpretentious film that's difficult not to like. It is admirable, too, for steering clear of cliché and sticking to its convictions - in another film Mick would surely project his turmoil outwards and find an outlet for his frustration through drugs or violence.
The film's tagline is "Your Town.Any Town" (it was actually shot in Basildon) and for the first reel in particular Ford taps in to frustrations with which many disillusioned young adults will be all too familiar. Mick may dream of a tunnel with no end in sight, but frequent long shots of the town's gargantuan leisure park remind the viewer that Mick's prison is not only psychological but also physical. In multiplex cinemas on similarly characterless, functional concrete sites dotted about Britain New Town Original should find a receptive audience.
Kevin Gill
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