The_Triad Late Night Shopping is a fairly imaginative character film based around a group of people who work night shifts.The film succeeds in it's subject matter, thanks to a good script containing all sorts of musing dialogue about life, philosophy and relationships that never feels overwritten, enabling the reality of the piece to flourish. The characters are all well drawn, on the surface, there's the shy one, the one with girlfriend problems, the mysterious one and the ladies man, but thankfully over the course of the film thanks to it's character based nature the characters become real and interesting.The plot largely takes a back seat to allow us to spend time with these characters until it develops into a more conventional romantic drama sort of thing towards the end. I'd liken it to the film Swingers (one scene in particular is identical) due to the "mates hanging out" theme of the film, with a subtle hint of beat culture (the film contains a few Kerouac and Salinger references).A good film to watch, and an achievement in solid, decent film-making.

sarahalyse I rented this film from a local shop on a whim, not expecting much. My housemates and I watched and loved it, every one of us. Maybe it's because we can relate as late-working, unambitious slackers; however I think that it was the spot-on acting, funny and likeable characters, great writing, and unique freshness of this film that made it so good.If you like a good, intelligent comedy, check this out.

craigjclark I believe I'm the first American to comment on this film, so here's an impression from someone who lives on the other side of the Atlantic.I just saw this film in the Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema, so it's starting to make the rounds of the festival circuit over here. It really deserves a general release because it is quite a well-made film, especially for a debut feature. All four leads were great and their dialogue was funny and clever. As a comedy, it is very observant. As a study of the desperation that can set in when you work in a meaningless job, it is spot on.In retrospect, I realize that some of the plot points could have been cleared up without all that much fuss (e.g. if Sean had called his girlfriend), but this is how real people act. Sometimes they do stupid things or play avoidance games. It's called life. And if other things seemed contrived (e.g. the fact that the two other girls turned out to be best friends), that's why there's this disclaimer at the end that states it is a work of fiction. Personally, I had no problem with going along for the ride, even with the bad '80s station on the radio.There are times when I find it hard to understand why people get so riled up about things that they dislike. This is one of those times.

Scott Ramsay My faith is slowly but surely being restored in the British film industry. It would seem that the steady tirade of shoddy Lock, Stock & Bridget Jones rip-off's is being offset by some nice low budget character driven pieces that are begging to be seen by a larger audience.Late Night Shopping is one such film. Yet to secure a release in the US, this is definitely a film to keep an eye out for.Saul Metzstein's debut feature is a glorious exploration of friendship and how we choose to spend our lives. The four main characters all work nightshifts and spend the time before and after work drinking coffee and talking about how they hate their jobs and lives in general. Lenny works in a directory enquiries call centre and has trouble speaking to women. Sean is a hospital porter who's girlfriend works a day shift, consequently he never sees her and wonders if she still stays with him. Vincent works in a supermarket and is a self-confessed womaniser who has a three strike rule. He will only sleep with a woman three times before he dumps them. Jody works for a computer components company and constantly feels left out by the three boys.The four talk and go about their dull, mundane existence. The film however is anything but mundane. The tight script from Jack Lothian sparkles with wit and charm and you grow attached to the characters and genuinely feel for them. The story doesn't fall into cheap clichés and keeps the viewer on it's toes, not rushing into any obvious or cheesy climaxes. In a welcome change of pace for recent British movie the film contains no violence and no drug-use. Sex is hinted at rather than shown and swearing is kept to a minimum.The movie was filmed in Glasgow and director Saul Metzstein does a bang up job off making the grey, gloomy city that I know look like a bustling, lively metropolis. In-fact If I didn't know it was filmed in Glasgow I would have a hard job recognising it, although I did spot a few places that I know.I'm not familiar with any of the actors from the film, but I was very impressed with the performances that they give. They really made me feel for them and I saw I bit of myself in each one (being a twentysomething loser in a dead-end job myself).Late Night Shopping is easily one of the best films to come out of Britain in a long time and demands to be seen by as many people as possible. 4/5