Fatigue

Apparently, this micro-budget (£16,000) crime thriller from Wales took five years to make. The protracted shoot is down to the fact that, despite the minuscule budget – and, boy, you can see the lack of every penny of it up there on the screen – the makers had to halt shooting every time they ran out of money. They also needed three attempts to get the fairground chase scene – which means that scene alone took them three years because the fair only comes to Cardiff once a year.

Filmed on grainy 16mm, the film has a satisfyingly 'gritty' feel to it. The snappy editing and direction by Michael Barnes manage to lift the film above its poverty row origins – only for the acting and script to bring it crashing back down again. It would be unfair to single out any one actor – especially as they are all amateurs for whom this is their debut film – but the kindest thing I can say is that everyone's acting improves immeasurably whenever they close their mouth.

The story is pretty standard for the genre, but does provide an original – and grisly – conclusion for which it should be commended. Perhaps the biggest problem is that there are too many influences evident in both the story and the manner in which it is shot – giving you the feeling that the makers want to be *be* Scorsese or Tarantino rather than to learn from them. That said, I couldn't help admiring the effort that clearly went into the making of the film – the makers obviously didn't allow their tiny budget to prevent them from selecting a large number of locations. It's clear to see that everyone tried hard, probably under difficult circumstances, to make this work and, while they haven't been entirely successful in terms of artistic or creative merit, the mere existence of this film should act as an inspiration to other aspiring but penniless filmmakers to try and kick-start their own projects.