Film Review – Cemetry Junction
Cemetry Junction
Time for another film review. This time i’ve been back to the cinema. I saw Cemetry Junction. This is my take on it.
Before you start reading this review I have to say that I am very biased toward anything Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant does. As soon as I knew they were making a film I’ve been looking forward to seeing it. I wasn’t disappointed.
The film is set in 1973 in Reading. 3 lads, Freddie, Snork and Bruce are entering adulthood. They are very close and the general concensus of the Cemetry Junction area is the fact that you grow up there, you work in a factory and you die there, simple. Freddie (Christian Cooke) has other ideas. He wants to be better than that and he gets a good job as a life assurance salesman. He enjoys the fact that he goes to work in a suit and gets to rub shoulders with people that he aspires to. Bruce (Tom Hughes) is going through the motions typical of Cemetry Junction. He works in a factory, finishes, gets drunk, gets into fights and then gets arrested. This is life for him. Snork (Jack Doolan) is the oddball of the group. He’s treated as the child of the three, has no job, no prospects and has no chance with women.
The film touches on the differing issues of the 3. I would say it concentrates on Freddie and Bruce a little more whilst allowing the scenes with Snork to be used as a little bit of humorous respite. Freddie quickly realises, with the interaction of his bosses daughter Julie (Felicity Jones) that this isn’t the life he wants to lead. He doesn’t want to be the man that his boss is after all.
Bruce has a different problem. He has no respect for his dad and is very harsh towards him. He blames his dad for his mother leaving. As the film progresses this situation gets more and more complicated.
I have to say it’s a beautifully made film. This seems to me like Gervais’ Office in a film version in the sense that it is very personal to him. Every shot, piece of dialogue and piece of music has been carefully and lovingly done. The film is a drama as a genre but it is funny the whole way through. The storyline is very compelling but yet light. Gervais said himself that he wanted it to be a celebration of what he remembered of the time and this really comes through. Every day is sunny, the music is very happy, the shots are of beautiful sunsets over the greenery of Berkshire. The banter between the three main characters is superb and is very indicitive of 3 genuine friends, not just actors saying lines. I really liked the film and would happily go to see it again.
The film made me want to sample the 70′s for a couple of days so it must have done something right!
Rating:
