1 Day (2009)

Good concept, poorly executed.

An Exercise In Nonsense

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Yay, just what the world was waiting for.. the first grime musical!! Yes, you heard it right.. the actors regularly break into profanity laden raps (complete with backing track) about how much they hate others and the variety of ways they're going to kill their enemies, and I have it say it works quite well. Apparently the cast wrote their own lyrics too, which makes it doubly impressive.Less certain however, is the acting, which ranges from reasonable to just plain diabolical. I supposed that's what you get when you hire non-professional stars for 'authenticity'. Also, the movie is just one big chase sequence after the first quarter of an hour, with bizarre comedic asides involving Flash's three bitchy baby mothers and his senile but domineering granny.It's completely unbelievable in every aspect, but somehow fun.. to a point. After the umpteenth foul-mouthed musical interlude, and yet another scene of Flash running from his pursuers, things get a little tiresome. They try to show some social realism as well, like a homeless young boy who has to steal for a living because his mum spends all her time at the local crack house, but this just comes over as window dressing.I have a feeling that it will be fully appreciated by those who share the same music tastes as the participants, or supporters of yoof cinema who think the current crop are just too sanitised. Otherwise, it's just like an extended, after-the-watershed episode of Eastenders, with a dash of Dizzee Rascal (before his pop career started) thrown in for good measure. Does that sound like fun? If so, take a look. 5/10

The acting was superb, I found the adult actors and actresses very believable in their roles. The quality of the production was excellent, in fact it was better than most urban/gangland films that I've seen here in America with relatively unknown actors/actresses. The Hip-Hop/Grime musical sprinkled throughout the movie was very much welcomed after the first performance, as I've stated before the actors/actresses are really talented. Many people will be looking for a message within the film and probably won't find one. This was a window into the life of a young man who was in over his head and the type of characters and drama he was surrounded by. Believe it or not, not all thugs/gangsters reflect on their way of life and view it as downtrodden, It is was it is to some of them. As an American the slang used is different but based on the context of any dialogue it wasn't difficult to interpret.

Storyline: One young drug dealer tells his best friend 'You owe me a hundred bags of scrilla(?), I want it in two hours or I'll lick your head off, you get me blud?' Technically, a decent film. In every other aspect, garish, non-sensical, badly written, underdeveloped and frankly, embarrassing.A film glamorising what, personally, I feel to be the Achilles heel of Britian, inner city gang culture. Absolutely no message here, no redeeming aspects of any of the thugs depicted (and all are thugs), who are constantly unlikable. I'd like to hear an argument that the filmmaker condemns the behaviour depicted here.I felt that the hip-hop musical numbers scattered about the story actually contributed to the mood of the film, whether this is a good thing, I'm not sure. At one point, as mentioned by another reviewer, the gang perform a rap at a bunch of civilians sitting in a fast food restaurant, the gist of it being 'You clutch your handbags because you assume we'll rob you due to us being black'... Now, I feel I must mention that this gang have pistols in their belts whilst they rap this, not to mention a bag of drug money on one of their backs.One type of person will go to see this at the cinema. The type depicted in this disgraceful film... and those cinemas should expect trouble, especially only rated at 15.I apologise that this isn't an in-depth review, I simply refuse to give it any more time.

Seeing as we have plenty of drugs gangs in Britain, it was inevitable that someone would make a film set amongst drug gangs in a Black community in an inner-city. This film follows Flash as he tries to pay off a debt to a drug dealer. He must also deal with three children from three different women, and his mother, who is a very bossy sort. There is some rapping in the film, especially in the first half. At one point, it felt like a musical: the gang go into a takeaway, the customers reach for their wallet and look nervous, and the gang start to rap about how they're not out to burgle everyone. There is one rap between two women towards the end, which I felt disrupted the flow of the film as he neared its climax.There is not much violence in the film, although the subject of guns is discussed at length in parts. I'm glad that it tried to be different from the numerous US gangland films. The film is made more distinctive through the slang used, which is typical of the Black community in Birmingham. It's worth seeing, but I've given it just 7/10 because it lacks a clear meaning. There's no special kick that makes it stay in your memory.