Twin town is a movie that has both benefitted and detracted from by the comparisons with cult hit Trainspotting. While the tag obviously gave it some publicity and piqued many people's interest, it also left many with the wrong impression of what to espect when they see the film, leading to some dissapointment.
The only similarities really are that both deal in graphic terms with the more down-trodden and morally-different elements of society and that both were produced in low-budget style with a high emphasis on charachter development over fancy film techniques.
The movie itself tells the really quite sad tale of two twin boys, Julian and Jeremy Lewis (Real life brothers Llyr & Rhys Ifans) following their daddy Fatty Lewis's accident at work that lead to a subsequent feud with his employer Bryn Cartwright and eventually involved both families and a couple of rogue coppers. I won't go any further with the plot so as to not spoil it for those of you who watch it, but suffice to say that a number of people (and animals) end up meeting a very nasty end.
Despite the grim subject matter the film is handled as a sick kind of comedy, thanks in part to the obvious lack of intelect of the two protagonists. However despite this leading to all of the charachters really becoming charachateurs, being a Swansea lad myself (where the film is based) I struggled to find a single charachter that I could not imagine relating to real people that I knew, this is a masterstroke of the film as it means that we can relate and sympathise with every charachter in some fashion or another.
The twins are obviously the main focus of the film but the performances of Rachel Scorgie as the sister and Dorien Thomas & Dougrey Scott as the two bent coppers are really the best in the film, providing the best charachters.
The film itself was shot at various locations around the city rather than in a studio or dotted around various on-locations areas like most films, which adds a real sense of tight-knittedness to proceedings. Of course this does limit what could be done but that does not adversely effect the film in any way.
Action & effects are kept to a minimal, accepting one explosion scene and the soundtrack really flows well with the film.
Finally back to the trainspotting comparisons. Really this is a far more accessible film than Trainspotting ever was, though perhaps not as deep it is certainly just as bleak once you peel below the comic layer and realise what is actually happening to peoples lives in the film. The more I watch the two the more I fail to see the similarities, in fact I'm not sure there are other films out there quite like either of them, though Guy Ritchie has had a good go at combining the comedy/death/poverty/revenge thing with Snatch.
Overall this is well worth a watch, especilly as you can get it in most video stores bargain bins.
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Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Producer Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) is behind this decadent comedy about a pair of ... more
lowlife but oddly intelligent Welsh brothers who generally make a pain of themselves in their small community, but who get serious about exacting revenge for a family t...
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Bryn Cartwright a wealthy roofing contractor Rugby Club Chairman and local kingpin rules ... more
the roost until Fatty Lewis a local handyman falls off a ladder on a Cartwright job. Bryn refuses to pay compensation. The twins Fatty's wayward sons devise ...
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Producer Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) is behind this decadent comedy about a pair of ... more
lowlife but oddly intelligent Welsh brothers who generally make a pain of themselves in their small community, but who get serious about exacting revenge for a family t...
Postage & Packaging: free Super Saver Delivery Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
![Twin Town [DVD] [1997]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78531153.jpg "Twin Town [DVD] [1997]")
Mar 21st, 2008
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![Twin Town [DVD] [1997]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/83281429.jpg)
