OPENS JULY 30, CERT 18, 102 MINS
The title may threaten a rough ride, but former Skids frontman Richard Jobson’s feature debut as a director is surprisingly tender. Graced by striking visual flourishes and spot-on musical choices, this story of a young man emerging from the haze of alcoholism to make a bid for redemption has a raw, vivid sense of reality.
Kevin McKidd?long deserving of a leading role?plays Frankie, who we follow from a boyhood spent in his father’s shadow to his teenage years as a skinhead and his subsequent struggles to fit into sober society. Inspired by his own brother’s alcoholism, Jobson’s movie is indebted to Terrence Malick; images and sounds flow together in nostalgic reveries and years pass in the space of a single cut. The first three-quarters are exhilarating and emotionally charged, although Frankie’s final attempts to get a life feel protracted, with a hint of self-pity creeping in as the film searches for an honest conclusion. No harm done though; by then you’ll be well and truly hooked.