Nil By Mouth [1997]

Heartbreaking in its reality this is not to be watched when you want something easy to watch. You can't help but be engaged to the point of anger and sympathy. This film is relentless.

The actors, especially Winstone and Burke, create such empathy that you can really feel for them. At his worst Winstone's character is repulse and mean. Amazingly, I still felt sorry for him at times. Winstone creates a man who is at odds with his present life and his past childhood. This is a man that understands that he is pulling his life apart, but that he can't help it.

This film has every range of emotion from pain and hatred and the emotions that make us stay with the people we love no matter what. Oldman's created a masterpiece that is undoubtedly owing as much to the cast. This is a hard film to watch but you will be rivited. You will also come through the otherside glade that you did.


Nil BY Mouth (Ray Winstone) Reviewer based in Bedfordshire   December 9, 2005
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

What can i say an outstanding performance by Ray Winstone once again, you go on an emotional ride with him, and you feel his anger and his pain.
The story set in a Council Housing estate, is about Love really or lack of love from parents that can lead you to become
emotionally unstable, it is the first film i have seen to explore how one is effected Psychologically by a lack of love and effection within the home.
This film will make you think like i from a what you call a "Dysfunctional" family too a audiance that wants to understand the depths of modern day disease, lack of love can sometimes produce people who are unable to love back even if they truelly want too.
Ray Winstone puts in an amzing performance very strong, the other cast Kathy Burke and Ray's friend really compliment the film too.
Excellent.


One of the best British films ever made...   November 18, 2003
Mr. J. J. Noble (London, England)
14 out of 15 found this review helpful

Nil by Mouth would be an important film if only for the fact that it reminded the good British public that Ray Winstone isn't just an asset to a film, but a resource all on his own! However, Gary Oldman's directorial debut is so much more than that - a searing, affecting film that leaves a lasting impression.

Exceptionally foul-mouthed, Nil by Mouth is a slice-of-life drama in the style of Mike Leigh or Alan Clarke (directors Oldman was very familiar with from having worked with them as a young actor); there is no classic Hollywood structure, no safety-net of a clear-plot through which we discover the characters. The cast of this film are never introduced, we are just thrown into the middle of their world and expected to adjust, treat them like people we have known for years. Because of this, the film's tale of domestic violence, alcoholism, heroin abuse and father-son relationship attains the kind of power lacking in most films. It helps that writer-director Oldman is writing about the world in which he grew up, and has populated it with real-looking (read: unattractive) actors.

Winstone is, of course, magnificent in the role of Ray, a marauding south London man on the brink of mental collapse, who takes out his unarticulated frustrations on his helpless wife Valerie, played with equal brilliance by Kathy Burke, who proves that she is far more than just a comic actress. Charlie Creed-Miles, Jamie Foreman and Laila Morse (now on TV as 'Big Mo' in EastEnders) provide sterling support.

It is a difficult film to watch, but not just because of its often-disturbing scenes of domestic violence. Oldman's commitment to realism means that all dialogue is extremely south London specific (almost incomprehensible to non-London viewers), and un-coordinated in that characters often speak over each other, making some of the dialogue inaudible. It takes a while to get used to, but it becomes an ingenius way of tricking the audience into believing that what they see is the result of a hidden camera in someone's living room/pub/car/garage.

Nil by Mouth is definitely worth seeing, more than once. It has hidden depths and sensitivity that become more apparent with repeated viewings. It is a genuine masterpiece of 'cinema verite' - the only question is: why hasn't Gary Oldman directed another film?


a masterpiece   December 24, 2005
Mr. Ravinder S. Khabra (Leicester, England)
13 out of 14 found this review helpful

Just seen this movie on TV. It's an unbelievably good film. The director drags you into the world of this family; depressing is an understatement!

The film is unconventional both in terms of style and plot, something that really impressed me. But what stands out more than anything else are the performances by the actors; they are just simply incredible. Despite the bleak nature of the subject matter, after you've watched this film, you'll know that you've watched something very special. If you want to watch something raw and authentic, then it doesn't get any better than this.


reality bites hard in south-east london   March 24, 2001
djnutnut@aol.com (london, uk)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful

top film, top cast,real story, perceptive direction. for anyone who's mixed in the circles of lower-class dysfunctional families in london's council estates, the characters, brought to life faultlessly by the cast, are like a hundred different people you've met before. for people who have never mixed in such circles, the story of these peoples' everyday lives will be alien and harrowing, reassuring you in your own comfortable existence. But people like this do really exist, in abundance in fact. arguably the best british film ever made, with a cast to match, it is a must see for anyone striving to understand any aspect of the society that we live in.