What a waste of my time!!!

Nice effects though.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

When we are introduced to the various foul-mouthed, chain-smoking, poverty-stricken characters in Gary Oldman's one and only directorial credit, Nil By Mouth, they are gathered in a working club telling stories about people and events we are not privy to. Any establishing character introductions would betray the authenticity of Oldman's searing drama. These are real people, or seem like they are, so we get to endure their mundane and often repulsive conversations as if we've known them for years. And it feels like we have. The product of their social class means they're stuck in their routines; the men indulging in coke-fuelled benders, and the women are just happy to be out of the house.Dedicated to his father, Nil by Mouth is clearly autobiographical, or at least based on Oldman's experiences growing up in a council flat in South East London. Focusing essentially on three main characters - Ray (Ray Winstone), a booze-addled, violent abuser, Valerie (Kathy Burke), his bullied and terrorised wife, and Valerie's brother Billy (Charlie Creed-Miles), a young heroin-addict relying on his mother Janet (Laila Morse) to fund his habit - the film doesn't really tell a clear-cut story, but instead immerses you in it's environment. Dialogue is fast, naturalistic and often hard to follow, and long scenes often do little other than force you to listen to these people's everyday ramblings.Anyone looking for a pleasant experience may do better to look elsewhere, as no punches are pulled. Plenty are thrown, however, as Ray's jealousy over a man he sees Valerie playing pool with - innocently - erupts into a horrific scene of domestic violence. Even more heartbreaking is the next scene, as her mother sees her daughter's battered face for the first time and must listen to her cover story, being fully aware of Ray's violence tendencies. Laila Morse (an anagram of the Italian phrase for 'my sister') is Gary Oldman's sister, and although she had no formal acting experience before the film, she may just be the best thing in it. Her expression of helplessness at the sight of her son shooting up in the back of her van is incredibly powerful.As the film goes on, we do eventually learn more about these characters. Ray may be the clear-cut monster on the surface, but there is some sympathy to be had. In a scene following a particularly self-destructive bender, Ray explains to his friend Mark (Jamie Foreman) that he had no love from his father. Beneath the bulldog exterior lies a rather pathetic and self-pitying man, unable to communicate anything to his wife to the point where they seem to exist in different rooms in their cramped flat. Not since John Cassavetes has a film so successfully portrayed the tragedy of male machismo. With Eric Clapton's wonderfully bluesy score blaring throughout, the film is drenched in atmosphere while maintaining the sense of reality. It's by no means an easy watch, but Nil by Mouth is cinema at it's most raw.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Gary Oldman's, Nil by Mouth (1997) is a gritty, dark, bleak and powerful movie with constant extremely strong language and unprecedented realism. The Movie nails 522 F-words (The most from any official motion picture film) The documentary on the F-word isn't classed as an official movie. And has more C-words than any other film with at least 82 (Maybe up to a hundred) So I strongly suggest AVOIDING this if you can't stand bad language and all emotional viewers should steer clear as the film can be tough to watch at times. The positives are huge though,which is why I rated this film (My 1st official IMDb Review) as a whopping 10/10. The acting is so believable and convincing. It makes you feel like you are watching a documentary somehow with that amazing realism in the atmosphere. It's so gripping to watch and will leave you in shock after watching thinking WOW! What a film. It has that impact. The film received 2 Bafta's and deserves It's awards because It's a corker. Gary Oldman: Excellent actor, writer & director. Ray Winstone's best performance (IMO) in any film by a long shot. And Kathy Burke was exceptional along with him. A real gem masterpiece. Take my word for it and watch it!

This is Gary Oldman's only directorial role. He is known for playing villains and difficult characters in a range of movies, and is known for having taken many "integrity roles" - not pandering to Hollywood-style movie star roles. His work as an actor is outstanding and suggests he loves theatre and film, and thinks seriously about the roles he accepts.So, his directorial debut should be judged by a high standard. Fortunately, it surpasses expectations. This is movie about working class London life. It is gritty, it is dark, it is heavy. It doesn't try to build up an idea of London Gangster, as other movies of this ilk seem prone to doing. There is no sense that the movie is an attempt to posture or create a "British ghetto cool" in response to American Gangster or Ghetto movies. It is unflinching in it's portrayal of housing estate life, heroin addiction, and families flawed on many levels. It doesn't romanticise any of this. But, despite the dark mood of the piece, and the coarseness of the characters involved, you do get a feeling that this family love each other and care about each other. Sometimes, this causes tension - as a viewer, you can't help feeling life might be better for each member of this family if they just went their separate ways. But, true to life, they stick together, in the face of continual betrayals, violence, angers, and destruction. And they keep a dark sense of humour throughout.As someone who has experienced the environment portrayed int his film, I found it highly realistic. The humour was twisted, but genuinely so - in times of such strife, gallows humour comes to the surface. And the continuing sense that the next crisis is only a lift ride away makes this movie forceful and unforgiving in it's portrayal of British street life.

I can't recommend this film as a date movie. Gary Oldman's semi-autobiographical account of life lived on a South East London estate is a violent, Beckettian account of one of Dante's circles of hell, frankly. At the centre of it is Ray Winstone, who has done this sort of character before but never as well. The film opens with him ordering drinks at a pub bar - that's all - and you are already gripped with a sense of the frustration, self-loathing and barbarism that he exhibits in many different ways throughout the course of the movie. It's an acting masterclass.Of course the stymied and dispossessed need a foil in a drama such as this and Winstone is matched by Kathy Burke as his long-suffering wife, who absorbs and ultimately rejects his unbearable behaviour. Charlie Creed-Miles does an able turn as the fuse-lighting druggie son Billy although he must have wondered sometimes exactly what he let himself in for. Gary Oldman directs close up on the actors, maximising the claustrophobia of their council flat squalor. 4/10