A Brilliant Conflict

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

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.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

To say Diary Of A Bad Lad is a "must see" movie is no mere hyperbole. There are already many discussions and observations regarding the film's low budget, independent nature (and indeed the style of the film and subsequent "acting" are the film's greatest strength) and it precisely because this film has not gone through a long, overdrawn and commercialised process by distributors keen to boil the plot, characters and story down to the lowest common (easiest to sell) denominator that we have a film so refreshingly different to anything on offer in our multiplexes or store shelves. Diary Of A Bad Lad is a film that may would not have dared try to make, or if they had, would have ran the risk of dropping the ball with too many Chefs spoiling the pot. The Production team were all reading from the same Hymn sheet on day one and it shows with such a tight, yet intricate, narrative.The plot revolves around disgraced former University lecturer Barry Lick, who enrols his former students and protégés, or rather seduces them, into making a Documentary about various gangster figures in the local area. What happens over the course of the film is that the film crew, who become thoroughly unlikeable pretty quickly (deliberately so) are actually being manipulated by their so called film subjects, Gangtsers Ray Topham and Tommy Morghen.The film's genius lies in making you, the viewer, implicit in Barry Lick's Production crew and quest to infiltrate the murky belly of the Underworld, camera always in tow. As he and his cohorts are drawn further into the dark-side of Ray and Tommy's actual goings on, eventually becoming directly implicated and involved in criminal activities, we become just as guilty as they do. They want more gory details in their film; we want to see more gory details in the/their film. Barry Lick's most memorable line "It's what the punters want to see!" isn't a statement, but a question to the viewer, one that we answer with a silent but assertive yes. Yes, show us more violence, pornography, drugs. Whatever you've got, we'll lap it up and watch.As such, we are drawn into and complicit in every single unflinching and brutal act the film wheels out to us. This is not a gangster flick of bravado, shouting and swearing. The observational style of the piece means that all the characters become chillingly real, which makes the ever so easy flick between Business-Gentleman and Cold-Killer all the more shocking. As such, Joe O'Byrne deserves immense amount of praise; his turn as Tommy Morghen is not just one of the greatest gangster performances I've seen, but one of the greatest all time movie villains. Not for Tommy is the bravado and machismo of Scarface or a Guy Ritchie archetype, but rather a calm and gentle smile with a handshake and a glint in his eye that tells you have just invited the Devil inside.As media commentary, performance piece and an incredibly well put together film, Diary Of A Bad Lad is epic in its scope; part movie, part satirical social critique. The latter makes it rise above being just another movie, but it is the former, that all of these threads, characters and criticisms can be woven into such a well crafted story, that makes Diary Of A Bad Lad an out-standing film and proof that film-stock, glossy actors and glamorous locations are not essential pre-requisites for a good film; they're not, it is about story-telling, and anyone can do that with the tools they have available. You won't see another film like Bad Lad anytime soon, and for that reason alone, the film is a "must see." The fact that the film is British, and gaining a release in Britain in cinemas, online and at retailers (any non-British reading this may not realise that this is monumentally difficult if not impossible to do in our own country) shows not just the determination of the film crew and Production to get this film scene, but that also it must have something to say and be doing something right as people are paying attention, and actively promoting the film. After seeing the film, Tommy Morghen's bone chilling smile doesn't give you any other option.

I invited the film to be shown at our festival, the Manchester International Short Film Festival in 2005. Essentially a short film festival, but we were doing a showcase of local directors who had made or were in the process of making a feature, so it was appropriate to do an event around a locally made feature film.When I saw the film, I was quite honestly gob smacked by it. It was a tremendous piece of low budget film making, made with such vigour and expertise, it was difficult to see how this could have been made for less than a million! Everything about it was good. Wonderful and witty script, tight acting, some great characters, excellent camera work and really good editing. Oh and great sound too. OK, one or two minor flaws but essentially a fine piece of film-making and one of the best I'd seen from a Uk film maker in a long time. I think the film drew praise from everyone who saw it, and when I showed Bruno Coppola (distant cousin of Francis FC) the film at my house during the festival, he couldn't stop raving about it. I think saying they "stole the show" at the 2005 kinofest - is appropriate.All in all these guys deserve to go places and I'm really glad they got a 80 print release deal going into to UK digital cinemas this Autumn. Thanks guys for a wonderful experience and the DVD has a highly visible place in my DVD collection now. Kino john

"He'll make you laugh, he'll make you think," sang Professor Fink in an episode of The Simpsons, and he could well have been talking about one of the folks behind Diary of a Bad Lad. The genius of this staggeringly-realistic faux documentary is that its black humour makes you laugh even as another part of you is thinking, "Oh my god - what these people are doing is horrific." It entertains hugely for an hour and a half, but leaves you with many unsettling thoughts on both the horrors of the crimes committed by the "Bad Lad" Tommy and the exploitative nature of the media and the ethics of journalists. These themes have never been more relevant than in these days of 24-hour news coverage when no-one thinks twice about broadcasting images of bleeding victims of terrorist attacks staggering into ambulances.I'm generally a fan of Hollywood-style movies with happy endings, slick camera-work, fun characters and traditional "good guys", so for a film that deliberately eschews all of these things to appeal to me is no mean feat - that it did is a testament to the quality of the writing, direction and performances. The illusion of the whole thing being a real documentary is damn-near perfect, with every scene written and performed in an utterly naturalistic fashion. This film desperately deserves a release.

I went to the AMC Cinema in Manchester with my daughter a few weeks ago. The film we saw 'Diary of a Bad Lad' was absolutely fantastic. The atmosphere in the cinema was electric. I can honestly say I have never experienced a film as entertaining. There was just about anything you could want from a film. The comedy aspect of it was just first class! We particularly liked, the scenes where they were trying to carry out the dead body of the junkie, because it was extremely funny. We also found the part where the couple who were in debt and had to make an amateur porn video hilarious. We cannot wait to see it again as it kept us entertained from beginning to end.