Ben Wheatley's Down Terrace follows Father and Son, Bill and Karl, who have just been released from prison. Returning to their small Brighton home, Bill and Karl have now set the sights on restoring a sense of order to their small crime family, one that has been plagued by minor disagreements, possible betrayal, and infighting since the two went to jail. Set almost entirely in one location, the small, cramped house of these two patriarchs of a crime family, Ben Wheatley's debut feature, Down Terrace is a unique crime caper which blends the hostility, violence, and unpredictability of the crime-family drama with the observant eye of a relationship drama, delivering a truly unique dark comedy that is an impressive calling card for the first time filmmaker. While Karl grows tired of his father's philosophizing and preaching, Bill finds Karl's dedication to the family business compromised when he decides to shack up with his estranged girlfriend, who claims to be pregnant with this son. As Karl and Bill attempt to find an informant which they believe has infiltrated their family business, the two find both their business and family unit itself spiraling further and further out of control. Bill and Karl are two characters who are running out of patience with each other, and one of Down Terrace most entertaining aspects is how it captures the temperament of these two characters, men who have incredibly short fuses when it comes to any minor inconveniences. Wheatley uses this combustible temperament to his advantage, delivering quite a few hilarious moments throughout the film, perfectly capturing how the powerful lifestyle of these individuals have essentially made them brats who can't even grasp the idea of things not going their way. It's very impressive how well Down Terrace blends kitchen-sink realism with black comedy, as Wheatley manages to deliver a film that is both extremely funny in moments while also offering moments of true poignancy. The crime aspects of the film never supersede the character development, a problem that is quite common in young filmmakers, but luckily Wheatley manages to balance the elements beautifully, making Down terrace an audacious debut feature that is both tense, funny, and engaging.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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