Love + Hate (2005)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Dominic Savage

Writer:

Dominic Savage (writer)

Release Date:

5 May 2006 (UK)

Genre:

Drama

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Tracy Brabin	...	Gaynor
Mohammed Rafique	...	Naseema's Father
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Miriam Ali	...	Naseema's Mother
Dean Andrews	...	Derek
Samina Awan	...	Naseema
Liam Barr	...	Sean's Mate
Liam Boyle	...	Steve
Nichola Burley	...	Michelle
Tom Hudson	...	Adam
Ryan Leslie	...	Sean
Matthew McNulty	...	Shane (as Michael McNulty)
Peter O'Connor	...	Pete
Wasim Zakir	...	Yousif (as Was Zakir)

Also Known As:

Northern Souls (UK) (working title)

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

UK | Ireland

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

UK:15

Filming Locations:

Blackburn, Lancashire, England, UK

Company:

BBC Films

A love-it or hate-it film

To judge by the comments here, it's one of those films you indeed either love or hate. I loved it; to me, coming from the north of England, the characters and dialogue were utterly convincing and compelling. (Maybe because the decent, fair-minded chap who ran the wallpaper shop reminded me of my Dad... unfortunately some of the other characters, with their odious and ignorant views, I recognised too.)

To me, the only problem was the over-reliance on coincidences (oh, so Greek drama). But I liked the fact that many of the expected clichés were avoided.

So, Hollywood it ain't. If you like your films smartly scripted and smoothly acted, you may well hate the Loach-style rough edges.

But for me, this raw and bluntly honest film was one of the most powerful pieces of cinema of the year. And, actually, excellently acted. Throughout I kept saying, that's what it's like. That's just what they do. That's exactly what they say. And, by gosh, I wish it wasn't.