The Lives of the Saints

I saw this film at the London Film festival, and along with Shane Meadows' This is England it was the best film there. It is ambitious in a way few films dare to be for fear of commercial exclusion and entertaining on a variety of levels.

Rankin has been very shrewd. For his debut feature he has taken on a project which not only reflects the values of Dazed and Confused magazine but which sends out the message that he is more interested in quality film making rather than just making a quick buck.

The Cast is strong and centres around the character of Othello played by David Leon who gives one of the most impressive and dynamic debut performances I have seen. He is joined by James Cosmo, again giving what must be one of the best performances of his career playing the overbearing, beast of a man, local boss Mr Karva. Surrounded by support from Bronson Webb (Emilio) and Marc Warren (wanna-be transvestite, father Daniel) the ensemble add layers of depth which at times border on weird but, manage to somehow remain surprising and wholly original.

It felt to me a a conscious decision to rebel against the so often seen 'tale of urban London', found in our multiplexes since the success of Lock stock. The huge achievement of the film is the fact that in that sense it has huge irony, as on the surface it seems to be the aforementioned however we quickly realise this is a conscious ploy, Lives of the Saints is a moral tale, wrapped in urban London paper, set on the streets of a pocket of London so remote it could be anywhere, yours or my backyard, the tale being that greed, no matter in what form it may manifest itself, will ultimately have it's consequences or that: "what you want is not always what you need." It left me wanting more.