Awaydays (2009)
Director: Pat Holden
Writer: Kevin Sampson
Starring: Nicky Bell, Liam Boyle, Stephen Graham, Oliver Lee, Lee Battle, Holly Grainger, Sean Ward
Language: English
Runtime: 104 Minutes approx.
Age Rating: 18
Genre: Drama
Reviewed by Ross Miller
Unlike the likes of The Football Factory and Green Street of which it shares similar themes, Awaydays is a much more meaningful, grounded film less interested in raw violence that hurts to even watch (although this is has some) and more in what it means to be and feel a part of something, even if terrible consequences are wholly potential.
Based on the Kevin Sampson novel by the same name, Awaydays tells the story of Paul Carty, who longs to be a part of something and as a result tries to get in with a "pack" of football hooligans. It's here when Carty meets Elvis, the only one of The Pack who accepts him straight away and Carty sticks with him in order to be accepted by the rest. But what starts out as an opportunity to vent what he feels through the likes of fighting and drinking, Carty soon discovers the consequences which inevitably lie ahead.
What's strange about Awaydays is how it manages to be about football violence without being consumed by being only about that. The Football Factory and Green Street were solely about football hooliganism, and the macho nature of it (including far too explicit, almost painful to even witness on-screen violence) rendered any meaning buried under the surface of bloody punches and stampeding men. However while Awaydays is partially about this, it somehow manages to make it about so much more than that.
It might very well be one of those films where everyone will take away something different from it, but all will, whether they liked it or not, be thinking about it long afterwards. What I personally took away from it was that it was primarily about one young man wanting so badly to be a part of something, to join a group, any group, and feel like he belongs. And that's exactly what he finds in The Pack, the group of football hooligans led by the tough, intimidating John Godden (played by the brilliant Stephen Graham). Carty starts off as a fairly meek, reserved guy but his introduction to the violence between rival football fans brings him out of his shell and before long he's on the front line of the violence at hand. The fact that he gets beaten up doesn't stop him from getting right back up again, his blooded, scratched, a bruised face doesn't stop him going at it again if it means the rest of The Pack embrace him as one of their own.
The intermittent scenes of violence are visceral and tough to watch in their own right, but at the same time they're not so horrific and explicit (as they were in the mentioned The Football Factory) that they become unwatchable. Director Pat Holden makes sure we can see all that's going on, by not being too close-up and the like, but at the same time makes us feel very much a part of it. It's very hard to get that balance right, particularly in "rough and tumble" scenes like these but Holden really nails the combination.
But as I said the film is about so much more than the violence - just as an example it's a late '70s set movie and so we are gleefully subjected to all kinds of music now considered classics and all-time greats. Joy Division, Ultravox, The Cure, on and on; music is used extremely well here helping to create what really does a feel like a believable slice of life from the era in which it's set.
Making their major movie role debuts (they've both been in stuff before but always in small roles) is Nicky Belle and Liam Boyle who play Carty and Elvis, respectively. For actors as inexperienced as they are (film-wise anyway) they really do well; Belle plays Carty appropriately as a sort of shy but eager young man to begin with but he conveys extremely well the transformation from that to when he gets into the thick of being cocky, confident and violent. And Boyle is equally as impressive as Elvis, the only member of The Pack who even remotely trusts and accepts Carty; he's confident, savvy and above all a link for Carty into this world he so much wants to be a part of. The dynamic and the chemistry between the two leads is quite impressive for two actors as new to film as they to are.
A special mention must go out to Stephen Graham, who some may remember as the lead skinhead from the phenomenal This Is England. He's not seen here all that much but when he does appear on-screen he brings that ever charismatic, intimidating presence that he has about him. The leader of a team of football hooligans is pretty much perfect for Graham and needless to say he nails the role.
Despite all of these very positive qualities, Awaydays falls short of greatness for one reason, at least for me anyway. By the end of the film it seemed to be trying to convey some poignant, meaningful message but it never quite gets it across effectively. It ends on a couple of notes that would have been more affecting if it had explained just why the hell they were so damn meaningful. So it's intentions are admirable, but it's just a shame it doesn't get what it wants to say across to the audience clearly enough.
Awaydays is the kind of smaller, more independent but not any less worthy British film that should be cherished. It never quite reaches greatness because of lack of clarity about it's themes and messages, plus it has a few too many scenes of sex and extended dialogue that seem unnecessary. However for the most part this is an affecting, powerful, well acted, and well directed little film more worthy of the time, effort and money than some of the stuff Hollywood throws at us.
