Nicely filmed and the acting is what you'd expect for a made for the 50" screen movie. The storyline is a little bit south of implausible, way south. You'll keep asking yourself why they are doing this until half way through the movie. It'll make sense, but it's a bit stupid and twisted in my opinion, though I've never personally had to deal with female hormones. The chemistry that occurs in a human brain when certain events happen in our lives is what got underlined by this story and why we do stupid things when we are angry or upset. A tip: use the subtitles for the first five or ten minutes, just to get used to the accent and the speed of conversation that includes many strange contractions, to my ears at least.

Film4 have been showing " The British Connection " which is a euphemistic title for British made film productions devoid of American funding . While this might be well and good to a degree what it does is show up the fault of British film making:producing films that are unable to shake off the feeling that they're television productions rather cinematic ones and sharing the same visual style THE SCOUTING BOOK FOR BOYS is a case in point . This was shown immediately after Shane Meadow's ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE MIDLANDS and you'd be forgiven for thinking both films share the same director . Much of this is down to the cinematography where everything is brightly lit the colour yellow is rather prominent . In fact many of the films being shown such as LAYER CAKE and KILL LIST also have this visual look ( Though Matthew Vaughn style did make LAYER CAKE cinematic ) which led me to believe the same cinematographer was responsible for all the movies featured. I was shocked to learn this was not the case There's also a similar type of feel to the narrative . It's poignant , bitter-sweet and not entirely plausible . At the risk of sounding repetitive while reviewing these type of Brit flicks I was reminded of these PLAY FOR TODAY that were getting broadcast on a weekly basis by the BBC in the 1970s . Unsurprisingly both the director and screenwriter have a background in television In that case I won't be too critical because there does seem to be an element of the film being produced as a cinematic calling card by the director and obviously the budget is always going to be a worry in this type of production . That said there needs to be something stronger in order to grab the audience having a conveyor belt of British movies being broadcast on a channel means any viewer with a brain will quickly notice how similar contemporary films from this country are

English-born director Tom Harper's feature film debut which was written by English screenwriter Jack Thorne, was shot on various locations in Norfolk, England and premiered at the 57th San Sebastián International Film Festival in 2009. It is a UK production which was produced by Christian Colson and Ivana MacKinnon. It tells the story about David who lives on his own at a caravan park by the coast in the low-lying county of Norfolk. David spends most of his time with Emily, a same-aged girl who acts older than she really is and who lives with her mother. David and Emily share a unique bond and are in some ways like inseparable siblings, but their friendship is put to the ultimate test when they learn that Emily has to leave the caravan park to go and live with her father. Instead of coming to terms with Emily's parents decision, they plot out a way to prevent it from happening and has Emily hiding in a cave nearby. Initially their plan works out fine, but when Emily's mother and a security guard named Steve begins to worry that Emily has gone missing, the police are contacted and Emily tells David a secret that changes his perception of Emily and their relationship. Finely and acutely directed by first-time filmmaker Tom Harper, this well-paced and compassionately narrated fictional tale which is told from the protagonist's point of view, draws an intimate and intriguing portrayal of an unconditional friendship that evolves into an emotional conflict. While notable for its atmospheric milieu depictions and the fine cinematography by cinematographer Robbie Ryan, this character-driven and narrative-driven thriller contains some profound scenes between the two main characters, a brilliant score by English-born television, theatre and film composer Jack C. Arnold and examines themes like coming-of-age, friendship, family relations, love and jealousy. This somewhat romantic psychological drama which depicts a gripping and internal study of character, is impelled and reinforced by its cogent narrative structure, the understated and involving acting performances by English actor Thomas Turgoose, English actress Holliday Grainger in her second feature film role and the fine supporting acting performances by English actor Rafe Spall and Northern Irish actress Susan Lynch. A compelling independent film which gained the award for Best British Newcomer Jack Thorne at the 58th BFI London Film Festival in 2009.

Nicely shot. Very well acted by the two young leads. Apart from that? British indie-lite. Every five minutes the action stops so we can have another artfully-done montage set to the music of some no-doubt achingly-hip acoustic singer-songwriter. This is called "padding". The actual story is, frankly, cretinous. Girl goes and hides in a cave on the Norfolk coast. Her best mate takes her crisps and bin-liners (he's read about the beneficial, warming qualities of the latter in - wait for it - the "Scouting Book for Boys"). Comedy policeman (the terminally miscast Stephen Mackintosh) and comedy parents and comedy friends (a pathetic gallery of over-the-top grotesques with not a single amusing line of dialogue between them) never realise that the best way to find the girl would be to follow her best mate, who goes and sees her several times. It never occurs to them. Why not? The only conclusions we can reach are, either: all these people are utterly stupid, or: the makers of this film think we, the audience, are utterly stupid. Great. Thanks for that. SPOILERS BELOW... And all that the vile act of violence at the end proves is that the film-makers have no idea how to end this hopeless little film and think that showing a young boy smashing a young girl's leg with a rock (and later kissing her dead, vomit-encrusted mouth) is enough to "shock" us and make us think - wow, what a great work of art. No. This is not a great work of art. It wears its influence on its sleeve (Shane Meadows, Shane Meadows and, um, Shane Meadows) but it doesn't earn its heavyweight finale. Instead it is badly written, insipid, full of utterly unrealistic events and motivation (why on earth does that woman in the pool suggest the boy hold her baby; why are the forensic team combing a crime scene while the main suspect sits there in the middle of it?) and loose ends and trite dialogue and banal scenes that serve no purpose (the dire bit in the club, with his dad dragging him on stage, for example). I'm all for supporting new talent and British films and blah blah blah, but, really, someone out there (apart from Shane Meadows) must be able to do better than this.