/ 11 September 2009

Cal and the gang

Showing at the Out in Africa Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Shank is a movie that will have some resonances for South Africans, especially those who grew up in (or still live in) poorer areas rife with criminality.

It will also resonate with those living in social contexts where being gay or lesbian is still considered a crime worthy of the most grotesque punishments.

Set in Bristol, the port city in the south-east of England (and once a key point in the slave trade), Shank is about Cal (Wayne Virgo), a member of an informal gang of youths barely out of school — or, more likely, permanently awol from school. We know from a striking early scene that he has a secret: he’s gay. But to reveal that to his fellow gang members, who revel in gay-bashing as one of their favoured activities (alongside the voracious drugging), would be akin to suicide.

So there’s a scary picture of Cal and his gang, especially his close mate Jonno (Tom Bott), with whom he has an ambivalent relationship. Alongside Cal’s story is that of Scott (Gary Summers), a teacher at a local language school, and French lad Olivier (Marc Laurent), one of his pupils. These storylines converge in a way that will force Cal’s situation to a crisis.

The script (by Darren Flaxtone, who also edited, and Christian Martin, who also produced) is taut, pulling the viewer quickly into the drama. It’s not perfect, but it works. It skimps on Cal’s background and present context, leaving one to ask where his family is, and how he can afford a computer and a decent car. (The wages of sin? We don’t see the gang robbing anyone.) It also falters towards the end of the film, when some of the climactic events seem somewhat overdetermined. The final twist of the knife, too, though dramatically justified, felt like overkill.

But these are relatively minor issues. The main thing is that Shank creates a realised world and believable characters. (“Shank”, I’m told, is jail slang for a home-made knife, and in Bristolian slang it’s a penis.) The film has considerable power, and much of that is down to performances of utter conviction from the young and relatively untrained cast. Virgo carries much of the movie, and his scenes with Bott have a particular crackle; the scenes with Laurent, unfortunately, have somewhat less sizzle.

Alice Payne, as gang member and chief provocateur Nessa, is simply terrifying.

Its low budget contributes to the film’s efficacy, with lots of hand-held camera wobbling its way through these unsteady lives. The new technology also has a key role: the capacity to film your activities on cellphones shows how self-conscious, without necessarily being self-aware, the actions of these young people are. It’s about identity and the construction of a viable self through self-generated images, even if those images are of you beating someone up. This is a crucial insight into young people today and how they imagine themselves.

Simon Pearce, directing his first feature, is not much older than the protagonists. He operated the camera himself, which I think helps give the film its immediacy and impact. He and the scriptwriters also, obviously, have enough sympathy with these characters to allow us to see them as whole people, in all their contradictory complexity, and to weep for them.

The Out in Africa festival runs until September 13 at Nu Metro Monte-casino in Johannesburg and until September 20 at Nu Metro V&A Waterfront, Cape Town. Shank screens with the short Beautiful Contradictions by South African filmmaker Fanney Tsimong. Go to ww.oia.co.za for screening times and more information