Disc Reviews

That Sinking Feeling Review

tsfBill Forsyth’s second film, Gregory’s Girl (1981) was the film people best remember him for (also released on DVD the same week as That Sinking Feeling but by Second Sight). That Sinking Feeling was Forsyth’s first film and the one he made just before Gregory’s Girl in which there are many similar elements in place: similar cast, humour and jazz soundtrack. Even compared to Gregory’s Girl, That Sinking Feeling made in 1979 feels a much smaller film, although BFI didn’t want to back it as they deemed it “too commercial”. The macguffin of the story is centered on a small scale heist and references in very self-loathing way films that have gone before. When Forsyth began the film he had no budget, just a group of enthusiastic actors from the Glasgow Youth Theatre who were willing to help Forsyth with the project. To get a budget Forsyth approached local Glasgow companies and offered them promotion in return for some funding. As a result of this the director was able to gather up just under £5000 to make his film (although local company Irn Bru refused resulting in them becoming a butt of a check at one point in the film).

The film opens with a very wet street scene in a rainy Glasgow with the disclaimer:

“The action in this film takes place in a fictitious town called GLASGOW. Any resemblance to any real town called GLASGOW is purely coincidental.”

This gives some indication that this which, despite its setting is not a bleak film; that Forsyth is not, as has often been compared another Ken Loach. On the commentary and elsewhere film critic and Bill Forsyth fan Mark Kermode makes distinctly clear. His working class people are not miserable but maybe self-loathing, stuck in a rut they are trying to get out of and fantasise about how they are about to break out. For example the idea that there would be a potion that could make people sleep for years is an anathema in a Loach film, or even in a Mike Leigh film for that matter and a joke that is played to excess in the films closing scenes. We are then introduced to Ronnie (played by Robert Buchanan, who also had a role in Gregory’s Girl) who is unemployed and trying to do just that, break out of his rut. He then hatches a plan with his other unemployed and lowly employed buddies to break into a warehouse and steal 93 kitchen sinks and make a profit on selling them for about £60 each. The lowly ambition of a big plan is another aspect of the comedy and dare I say it is rather Ealingesque. Much of the humour is mild and at time hit and miss; it just felt more charming, honed with a sharper script in the second film while this one appears very much from a director finding his way in the first proper Scottish film. There is a sense that with the timing of the release of these very Scottish films that there is a point about Scottish independence in film making that this is a country that can go it alone. However, since Forsyth there has been little else of true independence truly on offer.

The extras on the disc are plentiful including a commentary by Forsyth and Kermode, an amusing nostalgic filmed BAFTA speech from Glasgow in which Forsyth pays homage to his early documentary films which are also about Scotland the great demonstrating where the director wears his colours as well as an insightful interview with Buchanan and how he became involved in the film, or rather how Forsyth became involved with the members of the Glasgow Youth Theatre group. There is also a very good 20 page booklet accompanying the DVD that goes into the origins of Bill Forsyth, analyses the film and the early career of the director as well as his later career, although by the mid-1980s with some diminishing success. There are also comparisons to the Ealing style with the Scottish director bringing that Ealing style bang up to date with Thatcher’s Britain. As is typical with the BFI Flipside series this DVD release is entirely consistent and a worthy addition.

Chris Hick

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