Really Surprised!

Load of rubbish!!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning Flash (Dylan Duffus) receives a phone call from Angel (Yohance Watson), who's just been released from prison, telling him to re-pay quite a large loan in the next twenty four hours...or there'll be repercussions. So begins a desperate race against time to secure the money and all the while, try to dodge other problems in his life.I'm glad 1 Day found it's way onto DVD, being as in the city it is filmed, where I live, Birmingham City Council found it in their wisdom to issue a ban on it in cinemas, for the terrifying fear that hordes of black youths may swarm to see it and get converted into gang members. Such petty, pompous over-reaction is what you can expect from the clueless people in power but eventually everything finds it's way into sight. Needless to say, being filmed around my stomping ground, it was fun to spot and pick out landmark locations and see it put on the map cinematically. But that's the most fun I did manage out of it.At heart a tough, grimy urban thriller, the film also seems to have aspirations of being a musical. People walked out in droves over Sweeney Todd's musical numbers, but I found it more of a problem here. I know this is very much my personal opinion, but I felt the musical interludes ruined it and robbed it of some of it's dynamism, however authentic the harsh, gravelly lyrics and delivery were. It's your typical back-of-the-bus music and made a film already uncomfortably shoving the nastier aspects of black culture in your face harder to stomach. It's got everything right in terms of dialogue and delivery too, with the street slang and patois used by the main characters sounding very real too, but it doesn't make them any more likable or the experience any more enjoyable for anyone from the outside looking in.The singing aside, 1 Day manages a very real and well realized harsh dose of real life...but if these are the kind of people you don't want to see in real life, it's just one you won't want to watch again. **

The acting was superb, I found the adult actors and actresses very believable in their roles. The quality of the production was excellent, in fact it was better than most urban/gangland films that I've seen here in America with relatively unknown actors/actresses. The Hip-Hop/Grime musical sprinkled throughout the movie was very much welcomed after the first performance, as I've stated before the actors/actresses are really talented. Many people will be looking for a message within the film and probably won't find one. This was a window into the life of a young man who was in over his head and the type of characters and drama he was surrounded by. Believe it or not, not all thugs/gangsters reflect on their way of life and view it as downtrodden, It is was it is to some of them. As an American the slang used is different but based on the context of any dialogue it wasn't difficult to interpret.

The film stereotypes black guys and families particularly West Indian families but I found it funny and enjoyed it. I think it had a good message in there, being a gangster is not all its hyped up to be and has serious life threatening consequences and there is no honour amongst thieves. Am a big hip-hop fan and was feeling the music from the female MC's in the film, not too sure about the male MC's though. The acting was a tad dodgy at times, especially the emotional parts, but overall a solid film with hopefully a positive message, don't do drugs (taking or selling), it ruins lives etc. Some UK media are trying to portray it as a film hyping up violence, drug dealing, gangster life etc, but I saw it for what it is, a film. Am black and my life is nothing like the guys in 1 Day. Watch it, you will either like it or hate it.

Storyline: One young drug dealer tells his best friend 'You owe me a hundred bags of scrilla(?), I want it in two hours or I'll lick your head off, you get me blud?' Technically, a decent film. In every other aspect, garish, non-sensical, badly written, underdeveloped and frankly, embarrassing.A film glamorising what, personally, I feel to be the Achilles heel of Britian, inner city gang culture. Absolutely no message here, no redeeming aspects of any of the thugs depicted (and all are thugs), who are constantly unlikable. I'd like to hear an argument that the filmmaker condemns the behaviour depicted here.I felt that the hip-hop musical numbers scattered about the story actually contributed to the mood of the film, whether this is a good thing, I'm not sure. At one point, as mentioned by another reviewer, the gang perform a rap at a bunch of civilians sitting in a fast food restaurant, the gist of it being 'You clutch your handbags because you assume we'll rob you due to us being black'... Now, I feel I must mention that this gang have pistols in their belts whilst they rap this, not to mention a bag of drug money on one of their backs.One type of person will go to see this at the cinema. The type depicted in this disgraceful film... and those cinemas should expect trouble, especially only rated at 15.I apologise that this isn't an in-depth review, I simply refuse to give it any more time.