New Year's Day

...this is a film with a great deal of raw quality.

Two adolescent friends - one with all life's supposed headstarts, the other burdened with a shedload of reality - share a common battle to face up to their personal tragedy.

The interactions between the leads are well acted, but strangely in keeping with their social differences, the strongest empathy with each is possible when seen acting without the other.

An extremely strong film visually and probably best seen if you've just had a really s***ty day yourself. Welcome to the real world!

9/10

PS Great soundtrack...

An unappreciated classic. A heartfelt story of friendship - kind of like a British Stand By Me.

Carefully crafted and full of passion.

Boasts a truly brilliant cast, including the great Sue Johnston, Ralph Brown, Michael Kitchen and Marianne Jean-Baptiste.

Loved the soundtrack as well.

Shouldn't ignore the sterling background performance of a young Kerry Ross either. I always thought she'd go on to win an Oscar as she had a touch of the Audrey Hepburn about her. An unfulfilled acting talent.

Always hoped there would be a sequel. Alas, it was never meant to be...

I saw this film at a student screening at the Duke Of Yorks in Brighton...i was incredibly impressed. The plot is well thought out if a little cluttered and the screenplay creates two believable teenage characters. Not the stereotypes that often appear in cinema. The makers also avoided the 'gritty realism' angle so often favoured by British independent film makers.

The cinematography is beautiful and no time is wasted trying to justify the two characters actions. Audiences are left to make up their own minds about the moral implications and justifications of the 'tasks'. And crucially..a happy ending is avoided without making the audience leave the cinema depressed.

Some criticisms can be levelled at New Years Day, the plot is cluttered, and budget limitations mean the first 20 minutes are annoyingly difficult follow..and the fake snow is blatantly fake. The characters Jake and Steven spend the film mourning are not sufficiently created to allow for real sympathy for them. The ending is also weird although it is hard find a better way to conclude and after listening to the directors justifications I am inclined to agree that this is the best way to end.

All in all a superb British film that avoids the costume drama and gritty realism cliches in favour of an entertaining plot that makes you think. SOMEONE PUTS THIS FILM ON COMMERCIAL RELEASE...THE PUBLIC NEEDS IT!!!

This film really deserves to be seen by the general public! I was really impressed, because I didn't really know what to expect of it. But I was thrilled! Great actors, an interesting, original story (although it sometimes reminded me of other British movies, like e.g. A Clockwork Orange and Beautiful Thing, but those were also great!). It's just a very fine and well directed piece of cinema! I also liked the music very much! I hope it finds a public!

I know the summary sounded harsh but it's true.

I got the film out of the video shop without knowing anything about it. The idea of the story sounded interesting (and it is) but it was handed horribly

They kill off the main cast early on (the only interesting bit of the film) and for an hour and a half you're left watching two pathetic losers. They hate each other and have nothing in common but somehow they're friends. One is a cliche poor boy who's family love him, the other is obscenely rich and his family ignore him. That's original!

There is no reason for why they're really doing all of this and by the first ten minutes you really don't care. You wish that new year's day would come quicker so that they can just kill themselves and get it over with. And the twist...made me want to vomit! What an awful pay off for an awful film.

badly directed, acted and written. It's like one big in-joke that you don't get. It's not even so bad it's funny, like a steven seagal movie, it's just bad. Save your money!