Straightheads (DVD)

Alice is a successful businesswoman, who is much admired and looks amazing to boot. Looking for a thrill, she picks up a 23 year old, Adam, and takes him to a party. On the way back from the party, they are held up by a vehicle blocking the road; when they eventually get past, Adam shouts abuse at them. Then a stag hits Alice's car and they stop to see if they can do anything to help it. The people that Adam abused catch up with them and launch an ...
...an eye in the process, and then Alice, who is raped. Unable to come to terms with what happened, Alice decides she wants revenge and persuades Adam to join her. What sort of revenge will they carry out? Or will Alice come to her senses and let sleeping dogs lie?

Gillian Anderson, who plays Alice, has always impressed me as an actress. I loved her as Scully in the X Files, and thought she was superb as Lady Dedlock in the BBC adaptation ... more

Alice is a successful businesswoman, who is much admired and looks amazing to boot. Looking for a thrill, she picks up a 23 year old, Adam, and takes him to a party. On the way back from the party, they are held up by a vehicle blocking the road; when they eventually get past, Adam shouts abuse at them. Then a stag hits Alice's car and they stop to see if they can do anything to help it. The people that Adam abused catch up with them and launch an unprovoked attack on first Adam, who is beaten unconscious, losing an eye in the process, and then Alice, who is raped. Unable to come to terms with what happened, Alice decides she wants revenge and persuades Adam to join her. What sort of revenge will they carry out? Or will Alice come to her senses and let sleeping dogs lie?

Gillian Anderson, who plays Alice, has always impressed me as an actress. I loved her as Scully in the X Files, and thought she was superb as Lady Dedlock in the BBC adaptation of Bleak House. To be honest, it was because of her that I was encouraged to watch this film, despite a number of less than positive reviews. She didn't really disappoint me here either. Alice is not a particularly likeable woman; she appears to put her career and appearance before people, and is obviously using Adam for sex. But then she is attacked, and this is where Anderson really had a chance to shine. Rape is never an easy thing for any woman to watch on-screen, but painful though it was, Anderson was really superb, and for a few minutes I really believed that what was happening on screen was real. Her zeal to exact revenge is also very well done. Towards the end, she begins to do things that don't quite seem to fit in with what we know of her; however, I think this has more to do with the story and the director than it does with Anderson. And her English accent isn't bad at all.

British actor Danny Dyer is frequently rubbished, at least here in the UK. I've never completely understood why. He does always seem to play very similar characters, but so do millions of other actors, and they don't get the stick that Dyer does. As Adam, I think he is great. He comes across as being the weaker of the couple, but there is a strength in him that occasionally comes to the surface. And I thought his relationship with Alice was very natural. There must be an age difference of at least fifteen years, but they looked good together and played well off each other. Of course, if you've already decided you don't like Dyer, then the chances are you will find plenty to pick at; personally, I think it's well worth giving him a chance.

What really surprised me was that the role of one of the attackers is played by Anthony Calf. Calf is a much respected British actor - I particularly remember him from Beau Geste, shown on British TV well over twenty years ago. He is totally unrecognisable here - his voice, his looks, everything is completely different. I didn't need this film to prove that he is a great actor, but if anyone else is in any doubt, then watch this film.

This is a British film, funded at least partly with money from the UK Film Council. For this reason, I'm not sure how well the film is known in the US, although I do know that, according to Wikipedia, it was released straight to DVD. I think this is a shame, because, although I know a lot of people will disagree, I think this is a decent film, and the UK film industry needs to do anything it can to promote itself. Certainly it seems that much worse British films are released more widely in the US.

This is a short film at less than an hour and a half; it is, however, packed with violence. In fact, there is almost more violence than anything else. And although I watch a great deal of violent films, so much so that I am largely desensitised to it (and no, I'm not proud of that fact), I really found myself flinching while watching this. The scene where Alice and Adam are attacked is deeply disturbing; all the more so, because there seems to be no reason for it. I actually thought of turning the whole thing off at one point, which is incredibly rare for me. There are also a couple of scenes involving animals being hurt or killed, which are very unpleasant to watch. Then there is the sex and nudity, and I'm not including the rape here. Adam and Alice are at it like rabbits before the 'incident'; afterwards, we are given plenty of scenes of Adam suffering from impotence, but trying to overcome it on a very regular basis, alone and with Alice! So, all in all, this isn't a film for those who don't like violence or sex and nudity. There is a rating of 18 and it is absolutely right for once.

It is probably the story that most lets this film down. It isn't a bad story; it just isn't very original either. There are a lot of similarities with films like Them and Straw Dogs. However, the performances and what goes on on the screen were enough to make it more than watchable for me. The ending is a little bit confusing. It doesn't really answer any questions and creates many more. I don't necessarily see that as bad though, because it does make it a bit different. I also like the fact that the director didn't drag the film out for any longer - as it is, there isn't really any time to get bored. This is Dan Reed's directorial debut, so I think he was quite brave to do that. I personally see more shame in dragging out a film to extortionate lengths (anything over two hours for me) than I do in cutting it short - shame more directors don't see it that way.

My version of the DVD has no extras with it at all; I believe that this is one of the first batch of DVDs. Since then, a DVD chock full of extras has been released, so if extras are your thing, make sure you check you've got the right version.

I'm not going to say that this is a great film, but it does have an edge to it that I liked and I think it is going to stick in my mind for a long time. If you've been put off by the average reviews, I think it is worth giving it a go. Of course, if you don't like sex and violence in your films, you will want to avoid it like the plague...this is about as far removed from a rom com as you can get. Other than that, recommended.  

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