New Town Killers

At the Q&A session which followed New Town Killers recent premier at the London Film Festival one member of the audience accused director Richard Jobson of making government propaganda and being involved in a romantic tryst with Gordon Brown. Which might sound like the insane ramblings of David Cameron's mum but, having watched the film, it does have some validity. But only because it's a film where the bad guys are hedge fund managers. (Really, if it got more topical you'd have to question whether Jobson was in possession of a time machine. In fact, I get the sneaking suspicion that a news program discussing the current economic crisis, which plays in background during a number of scenes, might have been added after the fact.) Though how a film as pessimistic about society as this could be considered propaganda for a government thats been in power for over a decade I'm not sure.

Structurally New Town Killers is your basic chase movie but with a social conscience, half Eli Roth, half Ken Loach. The action working class oik Sean (James Anthony Pearson) as he is hunted through the streets of Edinburgh by 'ethical finance' employees Alistair (Dougray Scott) and Jamie (Alistair Mackenzie). Sean has been drawn into this deadly cat and mouse game in an attempt to pay off his pregnant sisters debts. It's a film which points a finger at the nihilistic black heart of British society and the contempt which the rich, and many of the not so rich, have for the poor and disenfranchised. At one point our banking villains run through a list of things they hate, including social workers and asylum seekers, which could easily be a list of tabloid headlines.

Working with a small budget it's admirable that Jobson has managed to make a film about social issues in an entertaining manner, a method which is sure to make this film appealing to a much wider audience. He also draws an outstanding performance from Dougray Scott; as usual the best lines go to the devil. However the film feels a little clumsy both in its presentation and its politics. Whilst Jobson condemns upper class contempt for the poor, he does little to dispel it. Sean and his sister are both rather one dimensional characters and their tower block flat is lit in a particularly dingy fashion. Perhaps fittingly, having watched New Town Killers, I went to a talk by Tom Hunter. His photography is a reminder that beauty and social critique need not be antagonistic. He gives his subjects real life, character and nobility. Something that New Town Killers fails to do.





Women Reading Possession Order - Tom Hunter


Jake Garriock