Mischief Night (2006) Reviews

• Unique and unusual--- like hillbillies on acid, with a happy ending

  bopdog2006-11-04

  This is a bit of a 'slice of life' type movie. The plot isn't really the key thing, it seems. Two poor families live near each other in Leeds, UK, on either side of a large park. On one side of the park Pakistanis reside, white English families on the other. The families are kind of parallel-- both are dysfunctional, both are breeding criminal children, and unhappy and desperate lives for them. Sounds depressing--- but the two families in focus have a spark of goodness and humanity in them--- the white one from the mother, the Pakistani one from an elder son. The white family has 3 children by 3 fathers; kind of an extra-loose family. The Pakistanis have arranged marriages and strict rules--- kind of an extra-tight family. AND... this is sort of a comedy, too. Although there is plenty of violence, and serious themes throughout. This is not a typical movie by any means. But it is surprisingly uplifting, and not at all grim. Sounds grim, doesn't it? Somehow, it's not--- it's kind of inspiring, kind of funny. Kelli Hollis, the actress who plays the white mother, was in TV's 'Shameless'. This movie has a similar vibe--- yobs as clowns. 'How low can they go???' the movie seems to ask. And they do go lower and lower. But then, you really begin to understand and respect and LIKE many of the characters. Nice job, that. Kind of like hillbillies on acid--- with a mildly happy ending.

• Cultural Update

  yorkshire_keith2007-03-29

  For the information of the poster who asked. Mischief Night. A British tradition on Halloween before the more recent invasion of the appallingly PC and American sickly sweet "Trick or Treat" aberration. In which no doors were knocked on except with the intention of running away before they were answered, garden gnomes moved gardens, washing (if anyone was daft enough to leave it out) hung from trees in the company of toilet rolls, fireworks were set off early in privet hedges or outside toilet pans, black bin liners were stuck over the outside of peoples windows with news sheets posted about the end of the world coming tomorrow morning and door handles at the front and back became linked with washing line. You couldn't buy off mischiefers with treats you either went to bed hoping for the best, sat listening behind your door with a rolled up newspaper ready to give chase or you were out perpetrating mischief. A time before weed had killed energy and creativity in British youth along with the ability to persevere in difficult circumstances that weren't brought on by your parent/s (people often had two in those days) needing to live an "Eastenders" life. The sort of Eastenders life in fact, fairly roughly but honestly portrayed in this depressing comedy. Not that it doesn't have many funny moments but overall the life being led by the white family in this film is close enough to reality for anyone who deals with todays young people to know that there isn't any escape from it. Rather like the far funnier but equally hopeless "Royal Family" it ridicules a reality which has been encouraged by a well-meaning nanny state with no apparent clue as to what constantly supporting people in their mistakes and inadequacy does to their self worth. Uplifting to some effect but that's the only part (as with Heavens Above starring Peter Sellers) that fails to ring true.

• Two parallel worlds head for a collision as the clock ticks on towards Mischief Night when children are allowed to play tricks without fear of punishment.

  deadcherub2006-10-31

  This is such a brilliant film. Funny, fresh and honest. Set somewhere in northern england it charts the lives of two families, the Khans and the Crabtree's. Their worlds are divided by a Park set between the two streets they live in. But the script tackles some provocative issues that are very much relevant to a society where diversity is not always welcomed. It's witty, brilliantly acted and the cast are both professional and locally cast. Though you'd never know which is which. The film is directed with great assurance and control by Penny Woolcock who also wrote the script. You sense a real respect from her about the characters in her story and there is nothing patronising about the community she writes about. Just great humanity. There is nothing formulaic about it and it is always surprising in it's inventiveness. A terrific watch. Photography by Robbie Ryan (a talent to watch out for) is full of energy and flair.

• Bleak, even grotesque - but funny and perceptive

  gray42007-11-13

  A great film, offering a slice of life in present-day Leeds that most of us would rather not know about. The plot is almost incidental. The film's success lies in the portraits of the two families, one native white, the other second-generation Pakistani and their complex love-hate relationships. Kelly Hollis is superb as the gutsy single mother with three kids by different fathers, coping on her own with the racial antagonisms that have blown up in Leeds since her own childhood. The flimsy storyline follows the youngest lad as he and his mates prepare for Mischief Night, when children (or at least white children in Yorkshire) are allowed to create havoc by playing tricks on adults. The more subtle interactions are in the Pakistani community, where the older daughter is resisting an arranged marriage, the older son cannot communicate with his Pakistani wife except by meeting her incessant demands for sex, and the local drug dealer is hired to sort out the Jihadi extremists. The characters are for the most part grotesque, but with enough humour - the dialogue is particularly strong in every sense - to make them both watchable and believable. The acting is splendid, especially by the youngsters, and the visual portraits of the streets and houses of the two communities are vibrant. A bleak but absorbing, funny and eventually heart-warming film.

• Saw this at the London film festival and was totally blown away.

  janeydillon2006-11-03

  Funny, moving and clever, this treatise of working class life as it really is i.e told by the people who actually live it, is such a breath of fresh air. The story comes together so well at the end and just leaves you feeling so uplifted - it@s a million miles from the way this government talks about Muslims, youth culture and drugs - they don't shy away from letting you know things are bad but somehow you just feel that if you ignore the spin and just get on with the fibre of life itself you'll get through and they do this by letting the comedy build and not filling it with stupid "witty" one-liners, in other words you really care about the people who inhabit this film. And as for that Ramon Tickaram - he is just so gorgeous.