Down Terrace

Theo4.0

Ordinary reactions to extraordinary circumstances. A finely constructed, blunt passage of time, the rise and fall of power, and generational change. Ben Wheatley’s first, shot in sequence in one week on a meagre 5k budget, seems tame at first, till the killings start and no one’s safe. Intensely black comedy, deliciously absurd and utterly brilliant, delivered with sophisticated wit and eruptions of extreme violence in amongst nefarious chills. Flawed and peculiar humans interacting in flawed and peculiar ways, allowing them to be presented in a format that feels more like a documentary than practiced fiction. Wheatley truly is a magician, finely tuned in his skill to create not only realism within the context of the unreal, but how to keep the audience always a step or two behind. An effortlessly, wilfully strange mix of an inept, callous gangster family and their cronies

Slig0013.5

The debut feature from Ben Wheatley, the director of Meg 2. Down Terrace is a raw crime drama come black comedy centring on a terraced house inhabited by some kind of low key crime family, where a father and son have just being released from prison, apparently having served time as a result of someone grassing them up. The film was obviously shot on a low budget, but the director makes the best of it. The majority of the film takes place inside the central house, which gives it something of a pressure cooker feeling. The cast is made up of a bunch of character actors who each deliver distinctive performances in their respective roles. The drama veers from comradery to suspicion to all out angry shouting, all of which is pulled off well. There's a streak of black humour running throughout, which comes in the form of dialogue and a general feeling of amorality from the various dubious acts commited by the criminals in the story. There's some musical asides which feel more like the director putting his stamp on the proceedings rather than serving any particular purpose. The way the whole thing plays out has something of a down trodden inevitably to it, as it becomes apparent that things are heading for a universal downward spiral. It's a compelling and worthwhile watch in its own right.

The Reel House

“Down Terrace” is trying to be so much but executes so little. The film is trying to be Bottle Rocket but it isn’t, the film is trying to feel authentic but it doesn’t and the film is trying to be brilliant and there’s flashes of this but it’s really not. Listen, hear me out : I adore films about nothing, films that show us the normalities of life and why everyday life is miserable, pointless but also beautiful and fulfilling. I love Richard Linklater and his slice of life cinema, I love Kevin Smith aswell for similar reasons. There’s many directors who try to do these types of films and fail on this level. A recent example of this would be Quentin Tarantino failed attempt to execute this in Once Upon a time in Hollywood. I like OUATIH but it’s meandering and badly paced and not in the good way. Down Terrace completely fails at this. When you make a film without much plot, it’s because it’s all about the characters and how interesting they’re and the depth they have and the situations that ensue. The characters in Down Terrace are thin, boring and so unlikable it’s hard to be attached. If you want to watch some good films without much plot that strive on their heart and characters (some of my favourite films) you should watch : Napoleon Dynamite Slacker Dazed and Confused The Before Trilogy Boyhood Clerks Mallrats Chasing Amy 12 Angry Men The Breakfast Club Lost in Translation Eraserhead Her Among many more..... Recommend me some films !