Cert: 12A
‘The Better man‘ is the debut feature film from 5 long time friends and filmmakers of Bustabowl Films. A production company fondly named after the group’s pre-teen gangster slang from where their films manifest themselves as well. The team is made up directors Josh Bennett and Matt Tindall, writers Tom McInnes and Richard Wallace, and actor David Sykes (though they constantly merge roles in a Coen Brothers fashion).
And if you couldn’t guess from a crew of 5 boys, yes, there are a lot of knob jokes. The film centers around the escape from boyhood to manhood. A coming of age story that is forced upon our heros even though they don’t particularly want it and will fight it with every crude remark and awful pun they can muster.
The journey begins when Aaron (Cameron Stuart), a cocky “lady’s man” who caries around a clicker like he saw in a Lynx advert 5 years ago, and Josh (David Sykes), a still lives at home loser that can’t take care of a rabbit let alone a girl friend, find out that their third musketeer, Paul, is getting engaged. Played by Duncan Vicat-Brown and the only sort of grown up one, Paul is moving on with his life and getting married, in Wales. The boys set off for the engagement party with a hope that they don’t embarrass themselves or any one else. Spoiler alert; they do.
Aaron is especially triumphant in an inappropriate ‘that guy’ style. Funny for everyone not involved. Pushing the boundaries further and further until more than one person kicks off. This leaves Josh to survive the arduousness of Doctor Who obsessed party strangers until he falls in love. Natalie Martins plays the perfect girl that gets every joke, has every comeback, and isn’t frightened off by weirdness. Brought in to write the character was Caroline O’Donoghue imodestly describing Natalie as “a thinly disguised Caroline O’Donoghue.”
And this is maybe where the film falls down. The obvious intelligence of the writers leads to some epically funny lines but there is always a comeback, always a snide remark. Imagine every time you’ve thought of the most brilliant thing to say but it was too late. A thing that never happens in ‘The Better man’ as characters produce references from all around the world that are crowbarred in to get just one more laugh.
The acting from feature film noobs Stuart and Sykes is good if a bit harsh at times. A flaw that is only worked out with experience. Supporting actress Sabrina Dickens plays excitable bride to be Kayleigh well in one of her first roles not being attacked by monsters; being just as annoying as she’s supposed to be. Martins is excellent as the eventual bad guy that leads to the films final climax.
For a film shot on no budget (what little they did have was spent on sandwiches) or even just for a British film, ‘The Better Man’ has some very impressive visuals. Although it is mainly set in a flat; the sweeping Welsh countryside, the composition, and editing combined is an impressive effort from these young chaps. Integrating sound, music, and all important comedy timing into the mix creates a whole other level of meaning, and at the very least jokes.
Although not perfect, ‘The Better Man’ is an incredibly entertaining watch and went down brilliantly with the audience at its screening at the Newport International Film Festival. To say it was a willing first attempt at film making would be an understatement of massive proportions and everyone involved in it should be very proud.
7/10
