Drifteral99 I took a chance on buying this DVD after hearing that Kate Rusby featured heavily on the soundtrack. I like her English folk music style, and as a bonus she actually appears as 'the turn' at a motor-bike rally.A gathering of bikers , camping next to a pub as happens every spring and summer weekend somewhere in Britain.The film is set around South Yorkshire, I think at first, or perhaps even North Nottinghamshire. A faded pit town, somewhere Mansfield or a dozen others.The action moves on to places like Castleton in Derbyshire, and the area around Penistone, between Barnsley and Manchester. Ranging from quite bleak moorland to softer more rolling hills and trees.Colin is well portrayed as a simple man of relatively few words. The ones which spring from his lips invariably involve darts. His passion.The villain of the piece is a nasty copper, again well acted and the conniving Constable is after Colin's missus.Mrs.Col, and the copper take off to Blackpool,the 'Las Vegas of the North' and our hero sets off after them on his trusty Honda fifty (step-thru motorbike). The people he meets along thew way, from a predictably friendly group of bikers (the slightly mickey taking reception he got here was overstated)to a letcherous pub landlord really form the heart of the plot. He stumbles across a pack of Brownies on a camping trip, and , rather unlikely is instantly accepted.The scene where Col's bike is 'taken out was brilliantly shot & totally believable. Though having done a lot of motor-cycling myself his attire was less than adequate for his 'epic' trip.All the characters, with just one or two exceptions were very likable. From Mandy the overweight barmaid, disillusioned with her lover, and a mother of a cheeky wee actress who brilliantly captured a rebellion in the making, to Colin's wife. She had made a mistake in leaving him, and admitted it, would he have her back?I should have known anything involving Rusby's music would have a northern English flavour. The essence of the region, from stark beauty, to down at heel urban industry is here for all to see.Blackpool, the tacky town with such a proud heritage was filmed sympathetically, yet realistically.All in all a film which improves the more I think about it. I shall watch this several times I think. I really, and heartily recommend it to anyone with a soft spot for working class Brtiain.

andybannister One of the best movies I've seen in a long-time! (We rented it purely on the off-chance (there was nothing else that caught our eye).Beautifully acted and well-directed, what really made this film for me was the cinematography; the film is beautiful shot. From the grim cityscapes of Sheffield, across the scenic Peak District, to the garish tourist-trap that is Blackpool, the film brings northern Britain to life.The soundtrack, by British folk legends Kate Rusby and John McCusker is haunting.A wonderful, under-rated movie that helped restore my faith in the power of cinema after one too many Hollywood CGI-fests.Enjoy.

csharp7 Saw this in a film class when I was studying in Ireland and got to participate in a Q&A with director Damien O'Donnell (other films to check out, East is East and the short 35 Aside.) I was very saddened to discover that it has not had, and will probably never have any kind of wide release.It is the story of Colin, a sweet, bumbly darts enthusiast who embarks on a trip across the British Midlands in search of his girlfriend and his life.I thought it was a beautiful and captivating film that broke my heart and lifted it all at the same time. I have never felt so empathetic for a protagonist before and the experience is one I'd love everyone in the world to have.The word on the street is that a certain Miramax executive has decided to sit on this gem of a film indefinitely and I think that is beyond wrong. It is totally sublime and should get it's day in the sun!

Adam Brosnan I was recommended this film by a chap who doesn't watch a lot of films, so i expected it to be not great. However I really enjoyed it,the film reminded me of a book that i read called the alchemist, which was about a boy who is searching for something and realises at the end that he had already found through the journey what he was looking for.This film has a very similar premise and thats what the film is about the journey to blackpool, how you can change your life in a small amount of time and how you can learn things from other people.All the characters in the film are warm and all have a different perception on life. The main character also seems to learn something from each of them. Its quite a clever little film. If you've seen everything you want to see then give this film a chance I reckon you'll like it