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Not an easy watch, for two reasons: first, this is an uncosmeticized view of 90's England, with little light in the dark; and second, much of the dialogue is difficult for non-Brits to follow. It's easy to spot this is a Mike Leigh film: the gritty realism, working-class characters and improvisation; but it's certainly harder-hitting than the likes of 'Secrets and Lies' or 'Life is Sweet'. But I prefer it to those other films because they suffer from overstylized characterization. What made this one of the best (and most critically-acclaimed) films of the 90s was David Thewlis's bravura performance as Johnny. Johnny is the plot, really. He turns aimless wandering around nocturnal London into an artform, especially the surreal visit with the security guard. Being a fellow northerner, I can see echoes of myself in Johnny, which no doubt adds to the film's appeal for me. But I'd recommend it to any intelligent viewer, not least because of the contrast it throws up between nihilism and nothingarianism.
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