Diary of a Bad Lad
It’s hard to describe the excitement I felt as this film progressed. The film moves so effortlessly it really is believable as a documentary by a film professor, on suspension for a questionable teaching practices, who delves into the criminal underworld, and the lives of two businessmen in particular- Ray Topham and Tommy Morghen. The result is one of the most exciting and intoxicating crime dramas I’ve seen in recent memory.
Director Michael Booth plays it fast and loose, and brutally funny with Jonathan Williams’ screenplay. I don’t really want to go into any of the specifics when it comes to plot (I even kind of hate to admit that this isn’t a real documentary), but the further filmmaker Barry Lick (Jonathan Williams) gets in with Ray (Tom Miller) and Tommy (Joe O’Byrne), the more dangerous the project gets for everyone involved. But such as it is with filmmakers obsessed with getting it right that Barry’s determination to get down and dirty with the truth starts to make things, well, not so clear-cut.
Booth and Williams’ manage a completely realistic feel to the film that goes beyond something like “The Blair Witch Project,” which did the same thing, and becomes something completely original for the genre. Nothing is taboo for them- sex, drugs, violence- because, well, as we’re well aware now from real life and crime films both in the U.S. and in Britain (which is where the filmmakers here hail from), anything goes in crime. Such is the commitment of everybody in front of and behind the camera (working on a budget of less than $10K) that they’re willing to go to the lengths to make this real.
If this film doesn’t really fit into a traditional mold in terms of being reviewed, or even being watched, it’s all the better for it. So many films, regardless of budget, star power, and genre, simply go through the motions of things we’ve seen before- I can think of a few “filmmaker request” films I’ve reviewed the past several years that fit that mold- that seeing something this original and entertaining even makes me think some of the masters need to be taken back to school occasionally. But then again, the best always seem to find a way to add a few tricks to their arsenal, regardless of how successful they get. My guess is that it comes from being exposed to films like this at festivals and the like- for me, it’s been from giving filmmakers a chance to let their films be reviewed alongside the ones I see at the multiplex. I’m not saying I’ll be taking some of Booth and Williams’ ideas for myself; but I certainly feel inspired enough to keep following my own ideas outside the box.
