Recensioni degli utenti

terrible plot, shocking acting made worse with bad mockney accents, jamie foreman was good but it looks like all the budget went on him! everything about it was really unbelievable, like a bad drama class loads of bad pauses in between lines, bad delivery of lines. Really annoying direction, showing nightclub scenes for too long, seemed like it was trying to pad out the film with slow motion shots of the dance floor, completely boring i had to fast forward loads of bits, and there was no relationships between the characters, and the dialogue was really unbelievable to the DJ.."ill tell you what mate.. bang out a couple of house tunes yeah??" amateur hour! don't bother watching it, total waste of time.

Brit gangster movies can be enjoyable, but this one was simply too tedious and confusing for me. I really wanted to like it. Closer editing would have condensed the story into a crisper 30 minute presentation. The production team was obviously going for gritty street realism, and it showed. It is truly regrettable that I have to produce ten lines of text for this review to be posted, but here goes. The characters were one-dimensional; "Dave" did not come across with the gravitas one seeks in a cinematic villain; Bobby was not tragically flawed, merely tragic; the soundtrack was even more grating than Dave's tire iron; viewers will struggle to differentiate major, minor, and other characters. Would I be spoiling if I recommended that readers not invest any wealth, interest, emotion, or time into this movie? I give it a 5 because I still can't figure out what happened, and that which did happen might have been good to other viewers. Or maybe not.

I had lost sight of how bad a film could be.

I am genuinely lost for words and would not know where to begin describing how appalling this film is. However, I'll give it a shot: It is a plot-less mess, that hopes to somehow redeem itself in the 'arty' (read sh*te) editing.

Suffice to say this film could be used as torture mechanism, water- boarding would seem like a month in the Maldives.

Please spare yourself the need to have to write a review by avoiding at all cost.

'The Grind' really does plumb new depths of badly shot banality. It also re-defines what can be called a 'film'

I like gritty, I love 'Deadman's Shoes' (9.8/10 for me) but for f*ck's sake, don't expect anything remotely watchable or anything with a semblance of cohesion or meaning.

OK first up. This film is clearly REALLY LOW BUDGET and I see from the credits of the director it's his first film and was made from a previous short film he made some years before. So going from a short to a feature is clearly a MASSIVE step up and over all I felt he did a pretty good job all being considered. Clearly having a bigger budget would have helped this film as they could have added more action, bigger named actors and better locations/extras, sound track and stunts etc. The DP has done a great job on this as it really helped the film feel edgy, dirty and the low budget feel really helped make it feel like a nasty bleak world! We are all going to Hoxton/Dalston darling!" this film ain't! :-) I personally thought the casting of Jamie Foreman was a master stroke as His dad used to be a real Hackney gangster and was in fact a hit man for the Krays for some years and KILLED A FAIR FEW PEOPLE FOR THEM. Foreman therefore lent the film a greater feel of realism than going for just another east end bad guy boss like other crime films have done. It was also a interesting part for Danny John Jules and bar his deleted extras scene in "Lock Stock" I haven't really seen him play that kind of role before or anything of that kind of low budget nature so I guess he and Foreman must have really seen something different in the realness of the script like for example Bobbie owing Foreman only £10k rather than say £250k which is more of a movie sum of money to kill someone over. In fact the fact he beat him to death himself for such a small sum of money was really shocking for me but again set up this kind of harsh and bleak, true London world. The movie does have it's flaws though it has to be said! There are far too many roles in the film (the cast seems pretty massive), there are clearly not enough extras in the night club which either means it was a real dive of a club or the film just didn't have enough money to really fill out the club scenes properly as they must have all cost money. A bit of both I would have thought. The trance music score wasn't really to my tast either but then I'm no trance fan so that's hard to judge the movie down for that one. Also the club scenes should have been edited a bit more as they did go on a bit. All in all I felt the director did a very good job on his first movie with room for improvement moving forward for future films. The Grind was a very gritty, real and hard depiction of a quickly changing part of the east end. This movie deserves it's place in the collection of gritty realistic low budget crime films. A pretty good job!

The urban drama is saturated to bursting point with run of the mill, lazy mockney dramas and The Grind brings absolutely nothing new to the genre. The characterisations are woefully developed and acted; they stumble through what can hardly be considered narrative spewing out lines of dire- logue that amounts to posturing and screaming "fack" at each other. The direction isn't much better. The pacing is all over the shop from overly long shots of club scenes and slow motion walks to pad out the 90mins run time whilst employing bleached out visuals via out of focus shaky cam (presumably for "realism"). Overall though, it's just plain dull and is truly a Grind just to get to the credits.

After watching a poor film called Baseline I wanted to watch The Grind, as Baseline was an identical remake of The Grind, with the same story and characters as well as the same actors.

Since Baseline did so badly and did nothing for the careers of the cast and crew involved this would somewhat explain the negative reviews of The Grind.

At first you think The Grind is going to be just another gangster movie, but its much more and much better than that. The film follows two friends leading very different lives, one of Bobby and the other Vince. Both stories run along side each other until they meet and things start to go downhill for both characters.

There are violent situations for both characters, Vince dealing with the nightclub lifestyle and Bobby who gets threatened by Dave (played by Jamie Foreman) and gets beaten up by Tony, Dave's henchman. Bobby self-harming was tough to watch, but showed how desperate his situation was. With Phil (Danny John-Jules) his last friend to turn to for help the last 15 minutes are quite tense and lead to a climax for both of the main characters!

This is a low budget film and there are technical issues, but The Grind gives you an insight into British crime like no other. Director Rishi Opel lays on the violence thick and fast which may put off some viewers, so if you have a problem with brutality stay away, if not check it out. If your looking for something hardcore, this film pulls no punches.

Where Baseline tried The Grind survived!

I was looking forward to watching The Grind. Having been a fan of Jamie Foreman for years, and his fantastic turn in EastEnders over the last 6 months, this film looked interesting.

And was it any good? It was pretty good for a low budget film, to be fair. The story of a couple of mates, with one owing money to the other's boss is a familiar line. Martin Scorsese did this with Mean Streets nearly 30 years ago. But it works here in the Hackney setting.

Performances range from very good to poor. Stand outs are Foreman and Danny John-Jules (Cat from Red Dwarf)

Production values are good - visually it holds well, having gone for the gritty street realism of Nil By Mouth and Fish Tank. You can see the angle the Director had gone for in presenting a urban, street level feel.

The problems are fairly easy to point at. The female characters are underused. The Vince character isn't great, it would have been better to have focused solely on the main character Bobby. And some of the dance scenes go on a bit, so if you like trance, that's great, but otherwise...

Having said that, the pluses are there. The director has a strong visual sense, the locations are reminders of what many Londoners live through outside of the glare of the media. Jamie Foreman is at his most serious best, in fact his best performance in years. The story and dialogue is good.

So it's a bit hit and miss, but worth a watch, even just to see Danny John-Jules and Jamie Foreman in strong performances, and the evocative settings and visuals. And it's a whole lot better than some of the British dross out there.

I watched this film last night after watching EastEnders and I really enjoyed it. I've always been a fan of independent films and this is an intelligent film. It's idea is not complicated at all but smart at the same time and here lies its strength to me: The Idea. It's about the characters in a world of nightclubs and all the possible possibilities in our life that people create and the biggest (bad or good) changes they make. With all low budget films the acting is poor but I felt the lead was good - Gordon is one to watch for the future! Danny-John Jules plays the crafty Phil and Jamie Foreman was mesmerising as always and perhaps carried the film on his own at times. Catch it if you can!

First of all ignore the negative reviews. There are technical issues with the film, but the storyline is fine! The film revolves around Bobby and his debts to an East End gangster, Dave, played by Jamie Foreman, currently in EastEnders as Derek Branning.

I felt Jamie Foreman came across well as the ruthless gangster who demands his debt is paid or else. Much in the liking of his father working along side the Krays brothers in the 60's.

The urban feel of the movie came across well in terms of the dialogue and the cinematography. Clearly the Director is a fan of Nil by Mouth. My favourite bit was the overdose on the dancefloor and the dance music suited it well. It could have been edited like a music video, but clearly the slow motion scenes were there to to tell a story and not a 3 minute pop video.

The story was clearly defined and the performances could have been better, especially from the co- lead,it was clear to see it was one of his first performances. It also had a very non-Hollywood ending which I wasn't expecting, I guess that was why Jamie Foreman wanted to play the role of Dave. Overall not a bad attempt at a first feature film and I look forward to see what the director does next!

I saw this at the Apollo cinema and I have to say it was visually very impressive. Very nice grade similar to Heat for the nightclub scenes and reverting back to a desaturated look for the urban scenes.

It was especially rewarding to have the writer, producer and director (Rishi Opel) in attendance for the Q&A after the film.

The performances were good, the lead was cast right as the debt ridden, out of control, Bobby who's quiet and lonely and the director keeps it real by not giving the audience too much information about Bobby and his past dealings with his best mate Vince. It kept me interested in the character of Bobby and wanting to know more about him.

Vince, Bobby's best mate runs the club for Dave (Jamie Foreman) and Vince comes across as the ambitious, loud, thuggish, violent types who wants it all including running a casino for Dave. The performance of Vince was poor and let the film down in some aspects. The casting was just wrong. It was an unusual choice of having the two stories running parallel and this slowed the film down in parts. Perhaps this was the original part of the story and it did come across as intentional.

Jamie Foreman plays it straight, as the guy who wants his money and if he doesn't get it, then something is going to happen. His performance is great and keeps the film moving. Danny-John Jules (Cat from Red Dwarf) turns in a good performance as the wheeler dealer mate and surprised me with an unusual role I've not seen him play before.

During the Q&A, I found it interesting to hear the experience Rishi Opel had throughout the process of making and completing the film and problems he encountered. It was clear to see that The Grind was his life story and solely his vision. His story was tampered with from the people involved, and problems with dealing with negative people, but all he wanted to do was just make a movie and entertain an audience. His knowledge of the early 90's dance movement showed he had experience in the rave culture and his enthusiasm came across well and was certainly infectious. It was good to hear that he hold no grudges against anyone and that he'll be behind the camera again for his second feature!

Overall it was astonishingly impressive to see what an independent, enthusiastic, Writer, Producer & Director can achieve. A really interesting debut!

I hadn't actually heard of this movie until I stumbled upon it searching for Jamie Foreman from EastEnders. I had no expectations for it at all as I had not heard of the supporting cast members apart from Danny-John Jules who plays the "Cat" from Red Dwarf! I have to say that the ending was an interesting choice that I was not expecting as I was really rooting for both Bobby & Vince.

The storyline is good, a slightly different take on the gangster genre. We actually see the character development of the main characters, with two different visual styles which I found really cool. The acting was mostly good all round, a couple of the female characters were slightly weak in moments but not bad. I wish Zoe Tapper was in a bit more.

It's very urban & gritty which is quite popular at the moment. The Grind moves along at a good pace and the slow bits are there to allow the audience to breathe & let the characters develop which is a bonus. I'd rate The Grind as a realistic portrayal of urban life & the nightclub world. There are issues in terms of technical quality, but being low budget it was a good solid effort all round!

A gangster movie set on the streets of London is nothing new. The story is interesting and the rave culture come through well and it's nice to see a new film maker on the scene doing a different take on the gangster genre. The film revolves around Bobby and his debts to the local crime lord Dave. The performances are weak in places and could have done with some stronger female characters being developed such as Zoe Tapper has a great future, but clearly it was a guns and geezers movie with trance music and a heist thrown in. It's definitely not a student film and it's good to see the film doing so well in the charts and doing a lot better than the crapline of films that are out there! 8 out of 10 because of the brave ending and being so high in the charts

With Jamie Foreman starring I was expecting something along the lines of Layer Cake or the excellent Dead Man Running. However, this is a fairly dramatic and at times a very dark and gritty tale. It follows the story of Bobby a supermarket worker with a debt to the local crime-lord "Dave" played by Jamie Foreman. When Bobby realises what's at stake he has to take matters into his own hands. It seems at times the director is trying to do Mean Streets, but with a bit of action. Well actually there are also drug taking & sex scenes too. However essentially it is a tale of criminal wheeling and dealing, backstabbing, friendship & betrayal. Even without knowing the story in advance, I can say the final act came as a surprise. The picture quality was average and a wooden performance from the supporting lead, but the trance/techno soundtrack suits the era well. This film is certainly not a student film and anyone who claims it to be has no idea what cinema is. The Grind is certainly worth watching.

Perhaps not quite Lock Stock but still an awesome British Gangster movie!! I was very surprised to see the low rating here certainly compared to some other British movies released lately, as this one is thoroughly enjoyable. Definitely up there with the likes of Layer Cake, Gangster No. 1 etc.. Instant classic!!!