crazylegscain 1st things first after reading other reviews I have to educate some of you people who have never lived in this sort of environment in the UK:This family is NOT working class or lower middle class. They are a sub class of people more commonly referred to as "Chavs" in the UK. Connor, played by Fassbender is a working class guy. Just for reference Doctors and Judges are "middle class" types of people.The guys in the caravan are referred to as "Gypo's, Travellers or Pikey's". In the UK a lot of "Chavs" like to think they are "Pikey's" and vise versa.Mia thinks she is a great dancer, but obviously is not. This is portrayed well in the film. Her dancing is MEANT to look amateurish! After clearing up a few things I have to say that this is a great film. Mia - (Katie Jarvis) acting is superb. The natural lighting particularly used inside the council flat scenes added to the realism. The story was very believable and a lot of people with experience of living in a similar sort of background can identify with it. This film is a must watch, if you are a fan of gritty "working class" drama. If you like this one I recommend (If you haven't already) to watch: The Selfish Giant, Tyrannosaur, Dead Man's Shoes, This is England, The Acid House, Harry Brown, The Firm (Gary Oldman), Scum and Boys from the Blackstuff (TV Series).

vlloyd46 This is a raw, realistic, lonely story of an angry, neglected teenager. (Mia). Her mother is obviously a 'part time' slut. Thus when yet another boyfriend of hers appears on the scene, Mia is not surprised and makes no effort to befriend or impress him. Until... He shows her a fatherly side + later, his backside! As he slowly seduces her. This opens her up to a softer side. She falls for Michael Fassbender. (Who wouldn't?) Although Mia comes across as rock hard. You later realise she is quite innocent. The scene where she auditions for that awful seedy club with the other hard faced bitches, is quite atmospheric. As is the whole film. Apart from the fact that Mia really cannot dance for toffee! You compare her to these tarts in the club. Mia is very vulnerable. You can see that both the mother + daughter envy each other. The mother is envious of Mia's youthfulness and Mia is jealous of her mother's sexual self + physique. Voluptuous and passionate. I love the fact that all in all there isn't that much dialogue in the whole film. It's mostly feeling how the characters feel.It's moody, you feel it when the wind blows through the trees on a desolate, urban council estate to the characterless Essex modern estate. The more you watch this film. The more you see the raw beauty of this under rated film. A must see.

julianj-1 I have to review this title because it is another caricature of poor people. Some have claimed that the director is comparable to Loach or Leigh, but they have more awareness than this and create more complex characters.Everyone in the film is a two dimensional cardboard caricature of an unlikeable poor working class (or Andrea might say underclass) person, by someone who I strongly suspect is from a middle or upper class privileged film school background.I live in a similar, very deprived area of SE London, so I can say that I believe this is a false depiction of the reality.Firstly, where are the black people? I can think of only one, who appears for a few seconds and commits a crime (buying cider for an underage girl). If Mia is so into black music, one would expect her to have black friends whom she could empathise with.SPOILERS COMING UP Caricatures: 1. Alcoholic promiscuous single parent mum, who seems to have no feelings for her elder daughter, even saying she almost got her aborted 2. 2 delinquent,violent,alcohol abusing kids, Mia and her younger sister.3. A pit bull type dog called Tennants (FYI a brand of strong lager) 4. A philandering Irishman with a wicked way with the ladies who takes the virginity of a girl he knows to be 15 in a place where he could easily be discovered by her mum. Being drunk isn't an excuse.5. A gypsy/traveller lad who makes a living by stealing car parts from a breakers yard and fixing cars.Total plot predictability/not credible I knew Connor was married from early on. When mia abducts the little girl, nobody has called the police. I imagine Connor's virtually-unseen wife would go berserk, and then would twig that Connor knows who it is when the girl returns to describe her assailant - note that we never see that scene because the director probably couldn't handle it correctly.The dance audition which shatters her dreams is for some sort of sex work/lap-dancing. I sighed beforehand hoping this wasn't going to be the case. I think that people who recruit girls for this are very careful to check ID to make sure they are 18, so they don't get busted.All in all, I thought this was a very patronising film, which does not represent the complex and difficult life of poor people in the UK today, it's a sort of 21st Century equivalent of Bedlam, where privileged people would pay to laugh at mad people.

Melanie Mann I never thought it was possible for any movie to make me hate Michael Fassbender; hell, I saw Shame. That was a tough film, but it still didn't disgust me the way this movie did, and that's saying something.A terrible movie about terrible people being terrible to each other. Not to mention the glaring fault of it having no plot whatsoever. Oh, and let's not forget the part where a 30-something MARRIED man rapes a 15 year old girl. And then the girl kidnaps his kid, sort of drowns her but doesn't, and then takes her right back home for no apparent reason. But hey, I'm sure that's just 'realism'.So the lead actress did nothing to earn her role but argue with her prat bf in a train station, that doesn't mean this movie has 'grit'. "Hey, there's a homeless guy down the street who eats excrement, but he's NEVER acted before let's put him in a movie omg we'll get tons of awards!" Sadly, that last bit would probably earn an Oscar.TL; DR: at least in Flashdance the chick could actually dance. Don't watch this movie, spare yourself 2 wasted hours.