So, I have to say this film seems, on paper, to be the sort of thing that would bore the life out of me. The theme of young people drawn into dissolute lifestyles and criminal activity are two-a-penny and usually rely on hyperbole and desperate attempts to make "this film" more hard-hitting than the (almost identical) previous film on the same subject.
On that basis, I approached "Junkyard Dog" with a degree of scepticism. I WAS WRONG.
This is a small gem which, despite it's size, scintillates. The characters are unlike anything I've seen before in this genre. They are rounded, intelligent and engaging characters; entirely unlike the characters from more cliched films (I'm looking at you, the UK's abysmal and self-regarding "Ill Manors", "Kidulthood" and "My Brother the Devil").
The story revolves around the intense relationship of a taciturn (voluntary mute?) young man waiting to join the armed forces and his best friend - a garrulous bully who treats his friend with the same level of respect as he treats his dog. Gaslighting is the gobby friend's stock-in-trade. Into this arrives a young woman, who becomes involved with the quiet half of the friendship. What follows is more about the dynamics of disenfranchised young people and their hidden depths, than about choreographed scenes of irate youths waving knives about (when they aren't in a recording studio rapping).
This is a total surprise of a film that combines social commentary with affectionate insights into its three protagonists.
I'm delighted to have had the opportunity of seeing this film (on MUBI in the UK at the time of writing). It would be a real pity if this film disappeared from MUBI in a month or two and never found a wider UK audience. Just saying.
