re:mote voices

Title: 16 Years Of Alcohol

Cast: Kevin McKidd, Laura Fraser, Susan Lynch

Director: Richard Jobson

16 Years Of Alcohol is the directorial debut by Richard Jobson, based on his first novel 16 Years Of Alcohol, which is reportedly semi-autobiographical. Given the dedication at the end to Frances Jobson, and the lead characters name being Frankie, one can assume that part of the story comes from the life of Jobson’s brother.

The film starts with the end of the story, the 16 years of alcohol have caught up with Frankie, and despite his best attempts life is a struggle, with something from his past coming back to haunt him each time he thinks he has it cracked. From there we flash back to childhood, for years he thought his dad was The Man – an idol to the child, always ready with a story of how someone tried to have a go and how he put them down, the centre of attention at the pub, with a song to sing on cue. With age though Frankie starts to see the cracks, realises that his father is having sex with women from the pub in dark alleys. His parents increasingly fight, paying him less attention, so he picks up the whisky that is left sitting and starts to drink, and that is how the trap is laid.

From there we move forward to the seventies, Frankie and his mates are skinhead punks - malicious, violent and drunk. Frankie is the leader of the group, but the thickest member of their little gang is a powder keg waiting to tear them all apart. Which arrives with Frankie’s abortive attempts to distance himself from his past and find love. However violence and alcohol continue to be the blur that defines Frankie, till he wakes up frozen to the ground one day, covered in blood. Triggering his admission to alcoholics anonymous and starting drama classes as an attempt to deal with emotions and understand who he is. But just as he got his drink problem from watching his parents, he also finds he can’t trust people based on watching his father.

Too often Scottish cinema plays towards the dark side of Scottish culture, lingering in the territory of the stereotype which taints us too easily. With the problem of course that too often perhaps it is close to the bone, films about drunks and druggies and the like can easily be confirmed by walks through the cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. Which is why I don’t to find much appeal from Scottish films – however 16 Years Of Alcohol has something of a different approach. Reports about the film repeatedly make references to how Richard Jobson was mentored through the early stages of the film by Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai – though what truth there is I don’t know. Regardless Jobson perhaps demonstrates a more cinematic approach than his peers, playing with the big picture, using different techniques than just playing for straight ahead and grey as fuck.

With that Jobson is himself something of a character. During the seventies he was in a punk band, which is no doubt brought to life in some aspects of the film. Then during the eighties he was a TV presenter, and I suspect played with some acting himself. One of the icons expressed in this film is Bruce Lee, which probably has more of an expression in his next film – from a poster on the wall in 16 Years to doing a martial arts film with The Purifiers.

Cast wise the leads are taken by Kevin McKidd (Trainspotting, Dog Soldiers), Laura Fraser (Neverwhere, A Knight’s Tale) and Susan Lynch (Comedia, Wonderland). McKidd takes the role of Frankie, leading him through most of the film, from the skin head punk, the woolly haired and reformed boyfriend to Fraser, to the burnout and worn boyfriend of Lynch. Laura Fraser plays an art student and record store clerk who the punk Frankie falls for – who tries to help him, but in the end can’t fight the hard burn at his core. While Susan Lynch meets him through his drama classes, and the two of them try and support each other. The rest of the cast has a range of cameos from the likes of Ewen Bremner (Trainspotting, Julien Donkeyboy), and comediennes Elaine C Smith (Rab C. Nesbitt) and Kate Robins (Spitting Image), as well as a last minute appearance by Richard Jobson himself.

In the end 16 Years Of Alcohol is like Trainspotting in that both films show the dark side of Edinburgh – addicts and violence on the capital city’s streets. But here there is perhaps less humour, instead we feel more crushed and worn as the credits role. Leaving very mixed and unresolved feelings for the film.