Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageScrubbers (1982)
Director: Mai Zetterling
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Part-written by Roy (Scum) Minton, this follows the career of two Borstal girls: a lesbian orphan who busts herself back inside to rejoin her faithless lover, and a single mother who, separated from her child, puts an ever-increasing gap between them by her escalating violence. But blatant audience manipulation backfires: the more the mother bashes her way through the film, the less your sympathies are engaged. A script which bridles with a grim wit more akin to Porridge than Scum-in-a-skirt, and a filtered use of colour so dense it appears to be shot in black-and-white, are both points in favour. But no amount of effing and blinding, unconvincing slow-motion violence, scatological inventiveness, and buckets of flying excreta, can hide the fact that Scrubbers is a very noisy film that manages to say nothing novel. An entertaining washout.Author: FL
Cast & crew
Director: Mai Zetterling
Producer: Don Boyd
Cast: Amanda York, Chrissie Cotterill, Elizabeth Edmonds, Kate Ingram, Amanda Symonds full cast
Duration: 93 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Has David Cronenberg turned tame?
Has director David Cronenberg veered too far from his radical and bloody roots with new film 'A Dangerous Method'?
The 10 worst date movies
Just in time for Valentine's Day, we present ten of the least romantic films ever made
Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films
Find out where to watch 2012's Oscar-nominated films in London cinemas
10 unlikely badboy biopics
Featuring Phil Collins, Jeremy Clarkson, Nick Clegg, David Starkey and a host of other unlikely subjects
Interview: Sean Durkin on 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'
The first-time director of the brilliant new thriller discusses religious cults and robot boxing
Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day
Side-step romantic clichés with some alternative Valentine’s viewing
What do you think?
Post your review now