Unlimitedia Sick Product of a Sick System

Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

Memorergi good film but with many flaws

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Pete Richardson What Can I Add to All The Great Comments From Other Contributors Other Than Simply an Excellent Piece of Work from All Concerned.It Made Other Dramas of The Same Ilk Fade in Comparison! The Actors/Actresses Made The Storyline "Flow" and Seem So Contempory and Lifelike in a Casual but Effective Way.Aiden Gillen Played a Challenging Role as a Person with Obvious Autistic Traits That Came Across Beautifully.Sometimes Sad Sometimes Very Funny ("Tom,Tom!! Am I Annoying Ya Tom?") :-) Overall a Very Enjoyable Film That Depicts The "Care in The Community" Aspect of The 21st Century Very Questionable Indeed!! Nevertheless,My Wife and I Were Transfixed from Start to Finish in a Film That Has All The Hallmarks of Quality and with a Good Ending! GREAT STUFF!!!!

mark-whait Treacle Jr is an astounding film from writer / director Jamie Thraves. It tells the story of upstanding family man Tom (Tom Fisher) who walks out on his wife and young child in Birmingham and takes a train to London to begin a new life. It's an interesting exploration of what makes a person finally break - Tom can't handle the rat race anymore and walks away in a kind of neurotic trance. He's bordering on a breakdown. Once in London, he reflects on religion and tries to find answers to reconcile his actions. But most of the time he just wants peace and mental shelter from the life he has left behind. After an unfortunate incident in a park, Tom finds himself in A&E where he is befriended by Aidan (Aidan Gillen), a mentally backward Irishman who nevertheless is a sheer force of nature by his personality. He talks constantly, cannot sit still and seems to enjoy every minute of his life, even if he is being beaten up by foreign cafe owners or being punched and sworn at by Linda (Riann Steele) with whom he shares a flat. As the two men forge an unlikely friendship, their chemistry blossoms and rarely does a movie so effectively bond a partnership like this one. We've probably all been approached by the strange-man-at-the-bus-stop character like Aidan - a bit backward, machine gun chatty and irritably jolly, and, like Tom, we've probably all backed away and tried to shake them off. But we learn to see behind the obvious external barriers and Gillen's performance is utterly astonishing. Riotously funny and heartbreakingly naive in turns, its what pins the whole movie together, and the acute observations by Thraves of innocent people with their own personal problems getting swallowed up and spat out by a cold, cruel, vicious and callous world is riveting. Fisher plays his part with expert subtlety, and the strength of the script and direction is also apparent with Riann Steele's Linda - a street wise whore who mercilessly exploits Aidan's personality, there is more than a hint of the troubles she too has faced in life, to go some way to explaining the person she has become. The central theme around the three main characters is that circumstances dictate people's lives and shape them, and this is a masterly crafted piece of motion picture gold. Funny, warm and feelgood mixed with hard hitting, terrifying drama, Treacle Jr is highly recommended, with Gillen at the centre of three towering lead performances.

franglaisreview This is a top UK independent film which really shows what the genre is capable of. Quality performances and an excellent script make Treacle Jr.one of the most memorable and interesting films I've seen for a good while. Its characters are good as on fire, there is an energy on the screen that leaves a knot in your stomach, an engaging sincerity that is neither overdone nor leadened over by any sort of hipster-esque apathy. This is what independent film in the UK is capable of doing, and what it should be doing. It can be proud of this kind of talent and I hope it will reflect this in its support of UK cinema in all its diversity.

Framescourer Treacle Jr. is a film about a single personality. The inexhaustible gregariousness of Aidan Gillen, who plays his namesake, is enough to carry the role and so the movie. His lovable, ham-fisted optimism eventually overcomes our resistance to his rather claustrophobic, manic volubility. Perhaps Aidan's like a socially marginalised version of Happy-Go-Lucky's Poppy.The first Mike Leigh film one brings to mind for comparison though is Naked. Here is another flight from the North, yet more eventful search for refuge on the streets of London. Only Tom is neither forced to flee, nor does he answer the itchy question, why?. This is because Tom isn't important. He's there to enable Aidan, to throw him into relief and catalyse his fluctuating fortunes. It's upon this drama's surface that Aidan's effervescent consciousness fizzes. It's also this narrow focus that leaves the film rather dry.Writer-director Jamie Thraves tells the story decently enough and works hand-in-glove with Gillen's portrait of Aidan. Yet Rhian Steele's lively Linda aside, the rest of the production is pretty average, from acting and shooting to editing. Admittedly, the film is an exemplar of pragmatism and economy, given that it was made for only £30,000. But too much was sacrificed or allowed to slide. There's no connection between Aidan's social awkwardness and the mute, middle-class breakdown that brings Tom and Aidan together; no exploration of that chink in Linda's manipulative street-facade. To make a very unfair comparison, this is a paddling pool of characterisation besides the reservoir of Michael Winterbottom's South London magnum opus Wonderland. A nice story but nothing more. 4/10