Back in the old days where I was an undergrad, I had an Alan Clarke movie to watch for a class. Elephant, which inspired the Gus Van Sant movie of the same name. Since it's a short telefilm, it's not exactly easy to find. I had to rent something called The Alan Clarke Collection to be able to put my hands on it.
Turned out I stayed awake all night, watching the four movies on the Box-set, including two alternative version of Scum, starring an über-young Ray Winstone. It turned out to be one of the most spectacular movie I've ever seen in my life, if not THE most. It's about the life of young criminals in British borstals. It's hard, shocking, funny, sad and incredibly challenging on every level. I invite you to watch the trailer I have posted above, but if the images in there startle you, please know that it's light stuff compared to what Scum is capable of. The director's cut is so hard to watch it's excruciating. But it's in a good work. It's a rewarding movie that might very well have been one of the main inspirations for my novel.
There are two other Alan Clarke movies you should watch, first Made In Britain, Tim Roth's very first movie where he plays a skinhead. The Firm also, starring Gary Oldman as a loving father and the head of a hooligan gang at the pinnacle of the violent phenomenon. Alan Clarke is an absolutely relentless director. He confronts you with intolerable images, with your most repressed fears about the society you live in every day. Yeah, it's safe to say he's an influence. on me If you can get your hands some of his stuff through the video store or through the internet (he doesn't care, he died in 1990), it's worth your time. His art is scorching, but it's also truthful and unyielding.
I dare you to watch his films.
Turned out I stayed awake all night, watching the four movies on the Box-set, including two alternative version of Scum, starring an über-young Ray Winstone. It turned out to be one of the most spectacular movie I've ever seen in my life, if not THE most. It's about the life of young criminals in British borstals. It's hard, shocking, funny, sad and incredibly challenging on every level. I invite you to watch the trailer I have posted above, but if the images in there startle you, please know that it's light stuff compared to what Scum is capable of. The director's cut is so hard to watch it's excruciating. But it's in a good work. It's a rewarding movie that might very well have been one of the main inspirations for my novel.
There are two other Alan Clarke movies you should watch, first Made In Britain, Tim Roth's very first movie where he plays a skinhead. The Firm also, starring Gary Oldman as a loving father and the head of a hooligan gang at the pinnacle of the violent phenomenon. Alan Clarke is an absolutely relentless director. He confronts you with intolerable images, with your most repressed fears about the society you live in every day. Yeah, it's safe to say he's an influence. on me If you can get your hands some of his stuff through the video store or through the internet (he doesn't care, he died in 1990), it's worth your time. His art is scorching, but it's also truthful and unyielding.
I dare you to watch his films.
