A Favourite Thing: A Beautiful Thing: A Fairy Tale (Beautiful Thing (DVD))

Member Name: pje

Product:	Beautiful Thing (DVD)
Date:	09/08/02 (1098 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The ahhh factor, the soundtrack.

Disadvantages: Scott Neal's tragic basin-cut fringe.

What does BT mean to you? Does it mean something wonderful? Something liberating? Or something beautiful? Okay, probably not,
but, believe it or not, to a lot of people BT stands for 'Beautiful Thing' -
this beautiful thing, this film. It is exactly what it says on the box.
(Unless you're a Daily Mail reader, in which case it's part of Channel 4's mission to destroy the fabric of society by spreading filthy homosexual propaganda.)

Beautiful Thing began life as a play, written by Jonathan Harvey in 1993, and is set on the Thamesmead estate in London during a hot spell in May of that year. It was filmed in 1995 as part of Channel 4's Film on Four series (which will be sadly missed after producing so many wonderful, quirky, British films over the last twenty years.)

As a young man in Liverpool in the 1980's Jonathan Harvey had been inspired by the success of playwrights like Willy Russell (Educating Rita) and Alan Bleasdale (Boys From The Blackstuff) and this gem was his first success. He went on to write the appalling sit-com Gimme Gimme Gimme, but please don't let that put you off. [N.B. I've just looked it up, and, yes, you do spell appalling like that - it just looks wrong.]

There are five main characters:- Jamie (Glen Berry) his mother Sandra (Linda Henry) her latest boyfriend Tony (Ben Daniels) who is a middle-class 'artist' with a hippy dress sense (he "saw a video about Woodstock once" apparently) and their neighbours Leah (Tameka Empson) who is obsessed with the music of Mama Cass, and Ste (Scott Neal*).

Jamie is nearly sixteen, he's the sort of boy who gets picked on at school and doesn't like Games. He very obviously fancies Ste, who lives in the flat next door with his drunkard father, and his bullying older brother, Trevor. Ste appears to be a typical boy's boy - i.e. he plays football with the lads. As he says to Jamie: "You wanna do
football, y'know. It's all right. People'll talk to you then." (!) But he may be a boy's boy in more ways than one...

...Because this is a fairy tale in every sense. It's a pipe-dream-come-true tale of young love. Every kid's dream of living next door to a gorgeous girl or boy, and ending up in bed with them...

After being given a thumping by his brother, Ste is taken in by Sandra. "You'll have to top and tail with Jamie I'm afraid" she says, still unaware that Jamie is gay, never mind Ste, and that this could have arithmetical implications.** It also results in a very poignant moment (one of many):

Jamie: Have you ever kissed anyone? And stuck your tongue in?
Ste: Looking like this?
Jamie: You ain' ugly.
Ste: They've made me ugly.

"They've made me ugly." That line always stops me in my tracks and makes me think, it carries so much emotional baggage. It's us and them. Us: who believe love is never bad, versus them: the people that spread ugliness. Whose side are you on?

Although primarily about the difficulties of coming out, BT subtly addresses other issues too. Sandra is a single mother who has struggled to raise Jamie, and, like Ste, she's been on the receiving end of domestic violence. And it's not a coincidence that Leah's heroine Mama Cass was legendarily overweight either. But, more importantly, there are lots of funny lines too, many coming from the bitchy banter between Sandra and Leah:

Sandra: [holding a cigarette] Anyone got a match?
Leah: Yeah - my arse, your face.

Oh, and there's even a (mercifully) brief snatch of Olive from On The Buses (Anna Karen) doing karaoke!

There are no murders, car-chases, or CGIs, in this film, but if, like me, you're a sucker for touching, funny films about first love (like Gregory's Girl and Pretty In Pink) you'll adore it. Unless, of co
urse, you're homophobic.

Last, but not least, there's a wonderful 60's soundtrack, courtesy Leah's obsession with Mama Cass. This was an inspired choice by Harvey,         and is a huge part of the feelgood factor that surrounds Beautiful Thing right from the opening bars of "It's Getting Better".

After watching it I was singing "Dream A Little Dream of Me" for days.


SPECIAL FEATURES:
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I got this for less than a tenner at MVC, and like many budget price DVD's of 'old' films, there really aren't any special features. Just the two-minute theatrical trailer, and biographies of the cast. But you don't need special features when the film itself is so special.

¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Length: 85 minutes.
Video Aspect ratio: 16:9 Anamorphic
Dolby Surround sound.
No subtitles.

www.filmfour.com/productions

This film contains bad language, mild violence (thumps and slaps), drugs, semi-nudity (that's the obligatory shot of Scott Neal's arse), sexually suggestive behaviour and some snogging. So if you're a prude I suggest you f*** *ff and watch The Sound of Music instead. Which, coincidentally, is what Sandra and Tony are watching when Jamie and Ste get to know each other better in the bedroom. Oh, and later on they discuss frottage:

Ste: [reading a reply to a question in the Gay Times]
You cannot transmit the HIV virus via frottage. [To Jamie] What's frottage?
Jamie: Yoghurt - it's French.

Awww, bless.

¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ * These days Scott Neal is better known as PC Luke Ashton in The Bill, and blow me if he's not about to become involved in a gay storyline there too!

** = seventy minus one ;-)
______________________________________________ _____________ "Jill Murphy asked
me to write about one of my favourite things to help her celebrate her fourth anniversary of cancer-free living and to remind ourselves of all the nice things in the world. It takes more muscles to make a frown than a smile you know. If you'd like to join in, whether you've only just joined dooyoo, or you've been here ages, you're more than welcome. Just write about one of YOUR favourite things, make your title "A Favourite Thing: [your choice]" and include this paragraph at the foot of your opinion. And post before Friday, 9th August."
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