16 Years of Alcohol

From Kevin McKidd's stunning performance to the exquisitely shot Edinburgh exteriors, this is one of the most beautiful and evocative films I've ever seen. Anyone who grew up in Britain during the 1970s will recognise much of what's up on-screen. McKidd and Jobson have captured the teenage experience of those years perfectly and reproduce the entire register of repressed emotions and violent undercurrents with unswerving accuracy.

Naturally, it's a film about redemption - of sorts - but the tantalising, bitter-sweet promise of love and hope that permeates this film is delivered with a genuine toughness that sets it apart from the usual Brit-flick. File alongside some of the best European imports of recent years ... a wonderful and powerful movie that everyone should see.

I'm not a huge film buff but I went to see a screening of this film at the GFT in Glasgow on Monday and Richard Jobson was giving a Q & A afterwards.

Thought his answers to the audience were good and definitely helped make sense of the film a bit much. He made some really good points about the types of films coming out of Scotland these days and how he was trying to get away from that drab reality style we're used to seeing.

it's worth seeing anyway, I wouldn't write it off straight away.

One can't say that Scottish films about the 70s come to often, but this is one time too many. Kevin McKidd does the Edinburghian skinhead, who can't fight his past (or maybe that is what he actually does, beating people up). The past is a father who cheats on his mother and the son who never really get involved, never takes part in anything.

He is somewhat rehabilitated, or is he really? There is an intellectual narrator voice here in contrast to the violent acting of McKidd. Everything becomes too obvious, but that doesn't make things easier to understand.

A failure and only halfway interesting.

Co-founder of The Skids-turned-film critic Richard Jobson puts his ambition where his mouth is in a striking directorial debut.

Superficial comparisons to Trainspotting are inevitable (set in Edinburgh, starring Kevin McKidd and featuring Ewen Bremner in a tale of struggle against addiction) but the gentle mood, flourishes of Expressionist style, John Rhodes' luminous photography and a haunting piano score plant this firmly in art-house territory.

After witnessing his father's philandering, Frankie Mac (McKidd) grows into the hard-drinking leader of a gang of skinheads (with Jobson trowling on the visual references to A Clockwork Orange) until the love of a good woman gives him a way out. But redemption proves a big step and his aggressive paranoia ensures he's not out of woods yet.

The work of Chungking Express director Wong Kar-Wai, who encouraged this project, is a major influence and a mixed blessing for Jobson; he occasionally over-eggs his point too literally (a moment in which Frankie appears to have come full circle is unnecessarily overplayed with flashbacks to remind you why it's poignant) and McKidd's melancholy voice-over sometimes intrudes.

But these are small flaws in a passionate, poetic film about hope which makes a genuine attempt to find a unique cinematic voice and is powered by an awesome, committed and hugely credible performance from McKidd.

This is a strange morose film. At times it felt like a full length student movie with little in the way of plot development but some interesting themes. It had some interesting points to make on alcoholism but was more a study of the drinking culture of the Scottish working class. The film was held together well by Andewr McKidd who occupies most scenes with some good supporting cast and a cameo from director Richard Jobson. A satisfying film though I am not sure I would want to watch it again. Judge for yourself is my strongest recommendation. All in all this is a good but not great film. Some of what saves the movie are the interesting camera shots and a great soundtrack that I will now definitely be seeking out.