Mischief Night (2006)

Recommended

UK

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Penny Woolcock

Cinematography: Robbie Ryan

Composer: Murray Gold

Cast: Kelli Hollis, James Foster, Michael Taylor, Holly Kenny, Jake Hayward, Ramon Tikaram, Qasim Akhtar, Sarah Byrne, Shobu Kapoor, Gwyn Hollis, Christopher Simpson, Skint Eastwood, Mark Hargrave, Spencer Wild, Alexander Popplewell, Arron Thompson

Detailing the social problems that are rampant on the segregated council estates of northern England (crime, drug-abuse, casual racism,) this third Woolcock/Hollis “Tina” film – in which the lives of two Leeds families, the Crabtrees and the Khans, comically, violently, and romantically intertwine in the build up to the titular night – gets across its points about modern apartheid with humour rather than preachiness, teasing out an empathetic response from within its outlandishness. Iain.Stott