Review by Doug Cooper
Stars Aidan Gillen, Tom Fisher, Riann Steele, Cristina Catalina, Carrie Cohen, Liz Fleming, Atli Gunnarsson, Taylan Halici, Lucas Hansen, Judy Norman
Written by Jamie Thraves
Certification UK 15
Runtime 85 minutes
Directed by Jamie Thraves
This is the third film from British writer-director Thraves. I loathed his first effort The Low Down (2000) and his second The Cry of the Owl (2009) passed me by, but Treacle Jr is very good – a lean, extremely well acted character study, leisurely paced but ultimately satisfying.
It centres on the awkward friendship between Tom and Aidan. One morning Tom decides to leave his wife and young child, walking out of their Birmingham house and catching the train to London. There he ostensibly becomes a vagrant, getting beaten up by a gang of youths one night. At the A & E centre he reluctantly makes the aquaintance of disturbed Aidan, a sunny, seemingly mentally challenged individual with a speech mpediment. Aidan takes him in, introducing him to his tarty flatmate Linda (Steele). All three have little money but for a short spell strike up a tolerably cordial existence. But then jealousy rears its head along with guilt, remorse and deceit.
The plot takes a back seat to the characterisations and all three performers are exemplary. Gillen is remarkable, one of the very best British actors around. His manic turn here never becomes irritating. He's always richly compelling as one grows to like the character more. Fisher holds his own in a far less showy role but still manages to make his character convincingly troubled and enigmatic. Steele is terrific as the pugnacious slut, her bolshy aggression is certainly intimidating. Thraves should be commended for drawing such excellent work from his cast.
It's a small drama, unfussy and never calling attention to itself, powerful in its own quiet way and worth seeing for the calibre of the performances.