Nil by mouth may be gritty it may be harsh buts the best depiction of white working class life on a council estate in south east London i've ever seen ever. No one can do south east London like Gary Oldman
Not just London. I'm from the north, and the only thing different where I grew up was the accents. We are of course though talking about the lower working class here. Your factory, warehouse, coal mining workers and so on. Earning a pittance in horrible jobs, where they feel the only escape is to drink their cares away as often as possible Both my parents were drinkers, my mum had a real bad drink problem her whole life. I became a heroin addict, starting with pot and speed at a fairly early age, progressing to hardcore drugs when I was around 20. Whilst not QUITE as violent as the scene where he beats her half to death and kills the baby, I saw almost everything else as it was shown in the movie. I just watched it again this morning, and was so moved by how close it was to my life and the lives I saw around me as a kid. And I have lived my whole life in derbyshire. It was just the same here, and probably is still not too much different now, though most people drink at home instead of working mens clubs or pubs.
@@w0bbl3r I get what you're saying. I've lived in Glasgow my whole life and many of my uncles and their friends were very similar, thankfully my parents were only drinkers without the violence, but I too have seen pretty much everything depicted in the film one way or another. It's absolutely brutal, but it's one of my favourite films to this day.
Mr Oldman take a bow sir. Stunning piece of work. Extremely difficult to watch because it was so real. And brought back horrible memories from my own childhood.
I went to the cinema back in '97 when this was first released. I took my mum (Who was living in a very abusive r'ship at the time). I remember us walking home afterwards completely silent. No words. A true masterpiece of cinema. Very triggering for me dealing with the violence between mum and step-dad. A movie as raw and REAl today as it was 25yrs ago.
The casting on this film was perfect. My only wish is that Kathy Burke had done more serious roles like this. Laila Morse brought such a rawness to story. Without knowing the background of the characters. The strength of their presence in every scene made you truly understand what their lives had been like up to that point. It’s a hidden gem of a film that once you watch it, it will automatically take a position in your top ten list of movies.
A masterpiece a layered and complete film winstone demonstrates his full acting repotoire aided by a stellar cast shot in the depths of reality as with wine the best drink comes from the most corrupt ground
Great observation by Gary Oldman that his sister would have been more likely to be spotted by people in the street than he was. Mind you, that's probably not quite so true these days.
What else can you say about this film? Hugh Grant? Ray Winstone? Who is the best??? Grant is a prick who plays people that no longer exist in our society whereas Winstone plays people that are true to life. Top marks, best film ever.
@ja10767 True!...I cant stand Hugh Grant, he doesnt 'act', he's just playing himself, with that stumbling, stuttering middle class, annoying style of his. Im sure some non British film audiences think we all speak like that and have tea and cucumber sandwiches at 4pm sharp!!!Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! .....sorry, cant stand him!
Gary...your parents were fucked up. That doesn't mean that you have to be fucked up. The solution to detoxing your past.... is to never, ever, ever, think of your past. That's dead..... like shit in a toilet that you can NOW flush. Only think of beauty....love....work....sex...food... garlic....paying your bills....staying fit....whatever!!!! But the poison that you grew up in... is flushed down the toilet...if you flush it down the toilet.
frickadele easy for you to say until you’ve lived that life been brought up in that life don’t judge and don’t tell someone to forget You know nothing and lucky for you you’ll never know
No, you've got to accept your past, then make present and future better. People who do what you prescribe; forget it, bury it, end up on drugs to do just that, like Billy in the film.
