ROME FILM FESTIVAL Alice in the City / UK
The Be All and End All: Laughter and tears
The Alice in the City programme, aimed at children and youngsters, kicked off at the Rome Film Festival today with the first screening of British production The Be All and End All [+see also:
trailer
film profile].
The film is the latest feature of producer and occasional director Bruce Webb (Rare Books and Manuscripts).
The Be All and End All focuses on two Liverpudlian lads, Robbie (Josh Bolt) and Ziggy (Eugene Byrne), both from the working class. They’ve been best mates for a long time when, at age fifteen, Robbie is diagnosed with a terminal disease.
Their rapport immediately changes, with Ziggy trying to fulfil Robbie’s biggest wish: to not die a virgin.
The film, written by Steve Lewis and Tony Owen obviously milks this premise for its humour – how does a fifteen-year-old lad get his best friend, who is practically chained to his hospital bed, laid? – but never underplays the seriousness of Robbie’s condition.
Plotting is a tad schematic but delivers with hearty laughs and the right amount of sweetness and anxiety. Prostitutes, desperate pleas with the gals at school and that sweet girl they met on a holiday are all considered and tried. The ending finds the perfect note for the material.
With their authentically thick accents and (apparently) equally authentic teenage bravado, Bolt and, especially, Byrne really sell their characters. Their interaction, full of adolescent banter marbled with more serious moments, is what really carries the film.
The film was produced by Whatever Pictures and is sold internationally by High Point Media Group.
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