sweetfebruary Kafka once wrote "i think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we are reading doesn't wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for?."Well, I do believe that we need not only this kind of books, but also this kind of remarkable music and movies that shocks us, affects us and makes everyone of us a little bit more human..'Nil By Mouth' is not a colourful picture was made to please us... It's one of the few movies that wake us up to face the real true world around us, this film is not a tale or a yarn, it's exactly the opposite of that, it's a story of a real work class family could be mine or even yours!. If not check up your neighbours and you will get what I mean.. The script is so smooth like you'ed almost forget that it's a film, the dialogue is just so spontaneous, unprompted and way far from any kind of platitude, which make it very easy to believe... I really think the script is the true star of 'Nil By Mouth' by its honesty and simplicity, because the whole story is from the real world out there where people trying their bests - in their different messed up ways- just to pass each and every day with the minimum possible losses.... every character is interesting to watch, and see what's going on deep inside of them and how they think and feel, why they are not doing anything to change their shitty reality , to move on, or maybe they're!. I just don't know. Raymond's talking about his father actually brought me to tears and I think it's one of the best moments I've ever seen on movies, it's just so honest, simple, direct, pure and unaffected.And not only the script, but also the direction is by the great Gary Oldman!! He's just natural... Ray Winston and Kathy Burke are brilliant!! Again thanks for Gary Oldman for casting them and bringing the best of them..I loved this movie and I believed it. I would love to see more from Mr. Oldman as a director and a screenwriter, and I think after 20 years of 'Nil By Mouth' being released now it's the time for him to give us another masterpiece

rob94 This film is great, it really is. Its an insight into how people like this live, it takes us through hell, then brings us back, we go on a journey with this life. The film has many ugly and beautiful moments. In the first half i thought Billy's heroin addiction was bad but by the end of the film after we've seen Ray and Valerie's issues with domestic violence and alcoholism, i thought Billy actually had an easy life in comparison, so it just shows how bad people's lives are. The scene where Ray Beats Valerie to a pulp is heartbreaking and disturbing and the aftermath of what he'd done to her was just hard to watch. I felt so sorry for Valerie having to live and raise children with Ray, the drunk lunatic. However even Ray shows at the end of the film that he's capable of being a sensible, rational, family man - which is what I found most interesting about the film, how after such violence and madness, how the family was able to fall back to normality at the end. This film is a realistic picture of a dysfunctional and flawed family. Drugs, alcoholism, violence, crime, profanity is normal to these people. As an audience it becomes normal to us too. The cinematography and music are just fantastic, beautifully put together. The acting, especially Ray Winstone and Kathy Burke is some of the best acting i have ever seen... I wanted to cry about three quarters through the film after it had sunk in just how bad some of the problems these people had, despite such hell the film seemed to continue at its chilled out and steady pace, like real life does. There is literally no way anyone can say this film isn't authentic and outstanding cinema, its just an absolute gem. It makes you laugh and cry, and feel sorry for these poor people who are less fortunate than yourself. So touching and beautiful yet so hellish and sad.

Terrell Howell (KnightsofNi11) It's always a fun experience to watch an actors shift to the director chair. Such is the story behind Nil by Mouth, the directorial debut of Gary Oldman, one of the finest actors working today. Oldman himself does not appear in the film, but a whole collection of fantastic actors do instead. The film is a brutal story of a dysfunctional family living in London. This distraught and detached family struggles to stay together, having to battle one brothers heroin addiction, anothers short temper and violent tendencies, as well as the general debauchery that occurs within the lives of these people. This isn't a pleasant film and it isn't a happy film. It's a brutal depiction of London working-class districts and it will certainly disturb you to your core.The brutality of Nil by Mouth is unheard of. The film is a non-stop stream of cursing, graphic drug uses, and despicable violence. The film never lets up on the atrocity, leaving you no time to catch your breath. It's a fast moving film; one that doesn't stop to explain things and doesn't spell everything out for you. It's a completely character driven story with more character development in it than actual events occurring. Yet, enough happens to make the film plenty interesting. It slows down towards the middle as it sets up for its somber ending that leaves you with a strange and uneasy feeling in your stomach.Now, I'm always up for a great character driven story, but you have to be prepared for a lot going into Nil by Mouth. The thing is, the characters in this film are not likable in the least. They are the most despicable, deplorable, horridly atrocious people you've ever laid eyes on. Apart from them being sleazy and unattractive, they all possess the most unflattering personalities. The film presents a very strange family dynamic, having the characters constantly switch between love and hate for one another. Billy, the brother with the terrible heroin addiction, has his own mother give him drug money and also provides him with a place to shoot up. This seems like the most brutal form of motherly love until the two scream at each other a scene later, throwing the most horrendous profanities at one another. It is indeed some of the strangest relationships you could ever observe, teetering on being farcical at times, yet being sincerely compelling at other times.Overall, it is hard to become attached to the characters in Nil by Mouth. They certainly tell a fascinatingly twisted story, but don't expect to find any sympathy left in your heart when it's all over. This film disturbs me more than entertains me, but that is obviously the point. It is so harrowing and so horrendous that I can't guarantee you will want to watch it again once it's over. I'm not sure that I do, but I don't regret watching it by any means. Gary Oldman needs to try his luck with directing again one of these days, because his first attempt has gone pretty well.

dixxjamm ...and when I say reality,I mean just that. A universal reality. I've only been to London once for a concert and I stayed there for 3 days, so I'm not at all qualified to say that this is a slice of proletarian London life, and yet I felt the unequivocal and bland smell of real life right from the first frame.And that's because Gary Oldman manages to capture the universal drama of human life and emotion.He manages that through some really uninteresting dialog, some ordinary issues (poverty,macho-British style,hopelessness,addiction,abuse) and almost no cinematic thrills or gimmicks. The problem is that we are so used to those cinematic artifices that a movie like this one comes across as a flat line on a hospital machine. Not even when we have a climatic scene of Ray savagely beating his wife, I didn't feel terrified or like turning away in disgust because the by then the movie painstakingly tells the viewer that that's how it is and there is nothing to do about it, in other words, you're already emotionally numb and somehow not involved.Oldman considers this a semi-autobiographical movie. Add to that the way it is presented to us and it sheds some light as to why he's such a gifted, unconventional and unique actor, he clearly takes his energy, feelings and life experience from some unusual places. Absolutely shattering stuff.