Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageThe Life of Stuff (1997)
Director: Simon Donald
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Willie Dobie (Flemyng) is a man with ambition, imagination and lots of drugs. He also has a warehouse where he's preparing a party to celebrate the fact that, by means of a flaming van, he's just got shot of rival-in-crime Alec Sneddon. Where, too, variously crazed individuals are on hand: a pair of party girls; unloved eczematic Leonard (McQuarrie) and volatile janitor Arbogast (Hinds); and, meeting decidedly uncute down in the dank basement, nauseously hungover Janice (McKee) and skinny Fraser (Bremner), the last shivering in his smalls since he returned from what he believed was just some insurance scam involving a burnt-out van. Donald's dark, surreal, Scottish low-life farce may have delivered a sickening punch on stage, but on screen, as directed heavy-handedly by himself, the relentlessly OTT scuzziness, violence and hysteria is merely oppressive. True, the dry, black humour's still there in the dialogue, and most of the cast manage some semblance of recognisably human behaviour. But the ironic (?) use of inappropriately lush music, the cluttered, sometimes near-incoherent narrative, and the contrived metaphysics and humanism simply don't convince on the screen.Author: GA
Cast & crew
Director: Simon Donald
Producer: Lynda Myles
Cast: Ewen Bremner, Liam Cunningham, Jason Flemyng, Ciaran Hinds, Gina McKee, Stuart McQuarrie full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Duration: 90 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