From the DW Archives: Why British film is Best

In this weeks look back into the Daily Waffle archives, our contributor Jay Motty looks back at why British film is the best and he’s not afraid to say it! (originally posted on 29th January 2011)

Before you start wondering, I’m not one of those Nick Griffin voting, God save the Queen and all her subjects, don’t eat foreign muck, type of Englanders still lamenting the loss of the Empire. I’ve always thought of myself as a cosmopolitan, enlightened type, just as at home sipping a cappuccino with a few European gays as I am sat in the pub watching football with my mates while simultaneously talking about ‘birds’ – not in a  Richard Keys offensive way of course.

Over the years however, as my outlook on life has become more progressive my film tastes have become more and more home-grown-esque.  I’ve come to realise that rather than wasting my money going to the cinema and watching the latest blockbuster- which usually involves a below average actor repeating the same old cliches we’ve heard millions of times, while saving the world from yet another catastrophe, I can find something much more enjoyable on Film 4 or my Dad’s DVD collection.

I wasn’t always a film Anglophile -far from it, for many years unless the likes Denzel or De Niro were making an appearance I’d usually give any film a wide berth. That was in the folly of youth, in the days when the ‘star’ was a film’s selling point to me, before I’d even considered the notion of checking such minor frivolities as who was the director or what the plot entailed.

There’s nothing wrong with that policy of choosing films of course, the problem for me however was my choice of ‘star.’ More often than not -no doubt due to my love of Rocky films, which admittedly still exists to this day- the likes of Stallone, Willis- Die Hard obviously- and Schwarzenegger- Terminators 1 & 2 were the names that would attract me.

Two seminal moments changed my attitudes towards choosing films and the films I chose in general. The first was a trip to the cinema in my early teens to watch a film called Nobody’s Fool. It was a Friday night, in the pre-pub, cider on the park, era of my life but with it being too cold to risk an evening outside me and a few mates decided to get a few bottles of Hooch- lemonade alcohol- mother’s milk to any 14 year old- and go to the flix.

We were told the latest Bruce Willis film was on and even better Melanie Griffith got ’em out in it. That was it, surely this was the greatest film ever, we’d be mad not to go. If I were to describe the film now, I’d say it was a well-acted comedy drama written and directed by three-time academy award winner Robert Benton, with a powerful performance by Paul Newman at the forefront.

Back then I described it as Bruce Willis’s worst film ever- just loads of people talking and not doing much. One thing the film taught me though was to look a little deeper in my film choices.

The second seminal moment which happened around the same time was watching the film Leon. I remember loving it and being amazed by Gary Oldman’s performance it was both amusing yet brutal, comedic yet chilling, a performance the likes of which I’d never seen before. Who was this Oldman fella and what else had he done?

I discovered his Hollywood films such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula and JFK , the latter of which I enjoyed thoroughly, however it wasn’t until I found such fare as Sid and Nancy that my eyes were opened to a new ‘genre’ – British cinema.

It was realistic, gritty, funny, moving and scary all rolled into one. I found films such as Scum, Rita Sue and Bob Too, Kes, Raining Stones, Get Carter, Long Good Friday and Gregory’s Girl. Give me any of that lot over Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol.

During my later teens, first Four Weddings and A Funeral, then Trainspotting then eventually Lock Stock.. would make British films cool again, or at least profitable enough for Hollywood to start funding them.

By this time however, I’d become a fully fledged member of the ‘British cinema is best club’ and there was no end of films for me to get my teeth into. A trip to the local video store and you could buy a classic such as Mona Lisa for the price of renting Stop or My Mom Will Shoot. While my mates were raving about the effects in The Fifth Element, I was waxing lyrical about Oldman’s directorial debut Nil By Mouth.

I’d realised that British actors could do more than play baddies in American films, that the hero wasn’t always heroic and that funny moments and tragic ones often went hand in hand.

Don’t get me wrong there are still plenty of British films not worth staying awake for -let alone spending money on, and don’t get me started on the post Guy Ritchie ‘gangster’ drivel that was spawned for a good five years.

One thing to always beware of though, is the funding of a film- let me ask you a question ‘do you really think British money paid for Elijah Wood to play a hooligan?’ Just because it’s made in Britain doesn’t make it British – think Shirley Valentine not Bridget Jones.

Next time you visit Blockbuster or flick through the film channels, give a British film a try, anything by Shane Meadows, or Mike Leigh is usually a good place to start.

Next: My top ten British films of all time – and why I love ’em.

Follow me on twitter for more of my waffling @jaymotty