An unemployed Mancunian vents his rage on unsuspecting strangers as he embarks on a nocturnal London odyssey.An unemployed Mancunian vents his rage on unsuspecting strangers as he embarks on a nocturnal London odyssey.An unemployed Mancunian vents his rage on unsuspecting strangers as he embarks on a nocturnal London odyssey.
- Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
- 8 wins & 7 nominations total
- Woman in Window
- (as Deborah MacLaren)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaTo prepare for the role of Johnny, David Thewlis read Voltaire's Candide, the teachings of Buddha and James Gleick's Chaos, and the holy books the Bible and the Qur'an.
- Quotes
Louise: So what happened, were you bored in Manchester?
Johnny: Was I bored? No, I wasn't fuckin' bored. I'm never bored. That's the trouble with everybody - you're all so bored. You've had nature explained to you and you're bored with it, you've had the living body explained to you and you're bored with it, you've had the universe explained to you and you're bored with it. So now you want cheap thrills and like plenty of them, and it don't matter how tawdry or vacuous they are as long as it's new, as long as it's new, as long as it flashes and fuckin' bleeps in forty fuckin' different colors. So whatever else you can say about me, I'm not fuckin' bored.
In this, Leigh's toughest, most uncompromising work for cinema, Thewlis turns in a stunningly uningratiating performance. He utterly immerses himself in the role of Johnny, an articulate, disenfranchised angry young man, who's escaped Manchester after a bit of rough outdoor sex turns into something a lot like rape.
Johnny flees to London to hook up with an old girlfriend Louise (Sharp). While wandering around the city he gives free rein to his unfocused rage and indulges in some further degrading sexual encounters, notably with the dippy and compliant Sophie (Cartlidge).
This is brilliant stuff, but hard to stomach. Once again Leigh proves what a big problem he has with London's bourgeoisie, particularly with his portrayal of the smooth, sexually exploitative Jeremy (Cruttwell).
Leigh gives us so little to cling to here. There is barely a symphathetic character aside from security guard Brian (Wright), who dreams of escaping to Ireland. So the viewer is stuck with the edgy autodidact Johnny. It's an immensely powerful film about self-loathing and urban alienation, but, Thewlis' remarkable performanace notwithstading, staying the two hour distance is asking for a lot, even from die-hard Leigh fans.
- ginger_sonny
- Aug 30, 2004
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Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $1,769,305
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $36,463
- Dec 19, 1993
- Gross worldwide
- $1,797,195
- Runtime2 hours 11 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1
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