Dias distantes

SINOPSE

This would-be bruising story of football hooliganism and social alienation is adapted by Kevin Sampson from his own novel and centres on aspiring artist Paul Carty (Nicky Bell) and his friendship with the achingly hip Elvis (Liam Boyle). Director Pat Holden ably recalls the music and fashion trends of late 1970s Merseyside, but the punch-ups are unconvincingly staged and the accents are decidedly dodgy. The characters of gang leader John Godden (Stephen Graham) and his vicious sidekick Baby (Oliver Lee) are too too sketchily drawn, while Carty's motives for mayhem are never fully explained. Consequently, his growing addiction to adrenalin-rush violence is nowhere near as interesting as the conflicted Elvis's barely concealed crush on his new mate. Ultimately mired in melodrama, this lacks the book's laconic humour and owes more to TV soaps Brookside and Hollyoaks than edgily bleak reality.