16 Years Of Alcohol

Filed Under: Film, Reviews | Article Tags : DVD review

By: The Dweeb

August 2005

DVD Features

Video: 2.35:1 Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0

Director’s Commentary
Behind-the-Scenes Featurette
The Film in Storyboards
Alan Morrison’s Film Notes

Theatrical release: 5/17/2003
DVD released on 5/24/2005 by TLA Releasing
Running time of 96 minutes
Starring: Ewen Bremner, Jim Carter, Laura Fraser, Susan Lynch, Kevin McKidd
Director: Richard Jobson

Plot: Frankie is an intelligent but angry man who reacts to the pain that life has dealt him with vicious fits of brutality. After being raised by a philandering, alcoholic father and spending his formative years leading a gang on the mean streets of Edinburgh, he discovers solace in an unfamiliar form – love. The affection of Mary forces Frankie to open up for the first time in his life. At a crossroads, Frankie looks inside himself in one last effort to deal with his demons.

It must be rather depressing up there in Scotland, as films like Trainspotting, The Full Monty, even Braveheart and now 16 Years of Alcohol portray bleak lives who can’t seem to get ahead in life and must resort to rebellion, drugs, alcohol, violence and even nude dancing in the case of The Full Monty. Directed by first timer Richard Jobson, he portrays Edinburgh as a city perpetually cloudy devoid of any color with stark contrasts. 16 Years makes for a rather depressing tale of someone who tries to climb out of a dark hole and change his life only to be pulled in again.

As the cover states the film plays homage to Trainspotting and A Clockwork Orange. The first half of the film almost mirrors Clockwork Orange as the director pays homage with the familiar look and feel of that film. He manages to intercut a quick shot of the movie poster even, like its not already obvious what he’s trying to do. Frankie gets involved with a group of thugs that violently prowl the streets and pubs. They dress similarly just like in the movie and even do this drunken dance thing. During the record store segment I almost half expected to sit through another rape scene. Thanks for not taking us back there again Richard as I’ve seen enough.

The Trainspotting part, aide from actor Kevin McKidd, is mainly his borrowing on the similar themes portrayed in that movie. Like Renton in Trainspotting, Frankie battles is innerself to overcome his addictions, problems stemming from his past and the ever present peer pressure. Sixteen Years is almost like the lower budget version without Ewan McGregor and special effects imagery.

For an independent feature, this films technical specs are quite surprisingly good. The film transfer to DVD rivals that of most mainstream affairs and the sound is quite good. Also included is a DTS version of the soundtrack, why for a film like this I’m not quite sure but it is an added bonus. You’ll have the Scottish brogue booming in no time with the deeply voiced Kevin McKidd narrations. Also included are a couple of featurettes about the film, with a long documentary interviewing all the main principles of the film. The storyboard to film comparison is a strange addition, most of the time a drama is straightforward and the boards pictured are hard to make out. I can see including this for an animated fantasy film like Lord Of The Rings but not a film like this.

Despite the grittiness of the film’s tone, I can’t say I didn’t like the film overall. Pretty good actually so I think one can safely give it a rent and see what happens. Just don’t forget your bottle of Scotch to go with it.