Cinema Crazed

2005

Rated: Unrated

Genre: Drama Thriller

Directed By: Greg Hall

Running Time: 1:44

Review by: Felix Vasquez Jr.

Review Date: 4/02/07

Special Features:
Unknown.

THE PLAGUE

Greg Hall is a surefire talent that, with enough time and projects, will make a very good impact on the film world. Hall's direction is tight and down to Earth grit and dirt of the ghettos of London are especially uncomfortable to watch, because he nails it to a tee. Hall's visuals are worth the watch alone, and I look forward to more from the man.

I love films like this, I’ll admit. “Trainspotting” and films of the same likeness are films I enjoy mainly for their odd and gritty peeks into the world of the UK that’s not often featured. But I’ll say this. I didn’t enjoy “The Plague.” You can make the case that this is fixed to a certain audience that will be more familiar with the ghettos of the setting. But I grew up in settings exactly depicted. And you can make the case that perhaps the UK will relate to this more. But if that is the case, then I wouldn’t enjoy films from the UK more than the US, and the film would have a hard time making it in this country. I wasn’t set on a bias against it, mind you; it’s just that “The Plague” is so void of a plot or story that I simply couldn’t keep up with it.

It’s likely the bad audio on the screener I received, but the film was often very rambling and tedious to sit through without its chain of events actually taking us anywhere. Often times, films that are randomly set in a chain of sequences chronicling a day in the life of a group of people have a general hook to it, but Hall’s film simply didn’t. It examines the random lives of a group of friends through a day in London, but it simply doesn’t add up to much in the end. Especially when we’ve had glimpses with the very same goals that really seemed to amount to more in the end. Beyond the general concept, I could never be sure what Hall was trying to get across, and I felt as if I was merely watching it trying anxiously to be something. Hall’s direction is tight but the editing really does slop up what could have at least been a gritty film.

Editing is scattered, and there was many a poor camera angle I could barely muster excitement or fascination for. Here in the states, we receive many of these films. “Wassup, Rockers” is a film very much in the same vein. Sure its characters look realistic, and the concept is right on, but it never leads anywhere remotely recognizable, and sadly, I wanted a more cohesive story. I don’t even have to have an arc, but I would have loved motion and progression that led somewhere in the end. And I was disappointed, I have to say.

In spite of Hall's talent, "The Plague" is an often monotonous and dull neo-indie look at the ghettos of London. Sadly, I've seen better, and Hall's film simply doesn't stand out among predecessors.

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