Nil By Mouth - written & directred by Gary Oldman (1997)


sorabji.com: Last movie you saw: Nil By Mouth - written & directred by Gary Oldman (1997)
THIS IS A READ-ONLY ARCHIVE FROM THE SORABJI.COM MESSAGE BOARDS (1995-2016).

By R.C. on Monday, January 25, 1999 - 11:07 pm:

    Oldman has always been a queer one. Plays great villians. Not Hollywood pseudo-villians like Gary Busey portrays. But real villians -- some irredeemable (sp?)/some w/endearing flaws that almost make you hate to hate them. Loved him almost as much as I loved Lena Olin in "Romeo Is Bleeding". (Talk abt an empowered woman!) Did I tell you I begged/pleaded & humiliated myself at a gun rental shop in Tribeca just to try & get the addr. for the production office/so I cd show up there & try to cajole my way into a lowly PA's job on that very film? (I'd read abt it ages ago. Cdn't resist the chance at a title like "Romeo Is Bleeding" on my resume. And the chance to see Lena & Gary up-close & personal.) It was the 1st movie I got a line on after finishing film school. And the gun shop owner (whom I had rented a Glock & blanks from 3 wks. prior for a student film) treated me like a piece of shit on his shoe/just for asking him for an address.

    Waitaminute -- 2 fingers on my left hand are bleeding all over my keyboard. I think I caught them on the chair when I was trying to reposition it. But I don't remember tearing them asunder...
    Bacitracin & Band-aids are needed... Back shortly.




    Anyway... "Nil By Mouth": This movie makes "Trainspotting" look like an ABC Afterschool Special. And I didn't dig "Trainspotting" becuz the toilet-diving scene was so wonderfully inventive/it detracted from the horror of being so severely addicted that you'd dive into a toilet & swim thru the sewers just to try & retrieve yr dope. (The sewer wasn't a sewer atall -- no rats swimming alongside/no big ugly turds floating by. Not nearly repulsive enuf/IMHO.)

    "Nil By Mouth" features a bunch of British actors you've never heard of. And their Cockney dialect is almost unintelligible at times. But so what? With such raw realism/you can afford to miss a few lines. I also rented "Gia" today/so I saw them both within a few hours of each other. I remember Gia Carenga when she was a supermodel/& I remember her dying of AIDS in the late 1980's. But I never knew she was a lesbian or a junkie. And watching that movie didn't make me give a fig abt her or her tragi- glamorous life. Angeline Jolie did a decent job chewing the scenery & portraying a young girl who was basically a basket-case waiting to erupt. (She won a Golden Globe -- her 2nd -- for "Gia" yesterday. But having Jon Voight for a father helps.) The instant fame & $$ of the modeling biz certainly didn't helpt her fragile psyche any. But I guess I can't muster much sympathy for girls making $10,000 a day who insist on shooting up. I've done a lotta drugs in my time/inc. smoking & shooting dope. But I never wd've bothered w/that shit if I'd had the kind of $$ this girl was making. For me/drugs were & will always be the proliterate alternative to a weekend in Mustique in February. I've never understood why someone wd wanna stick needles in their arm or suck on a pipe when they cd just as easily be sitting in the back room at Cartier buying diamonds/or on a private jet heading for St. Barts.

    "Nil By Mouth" draws back the tacky nylon curtains on the lives of 2 working-class English junkie fellows/& the people who are brutalized in the wake of their addictions. It was like peeping into someone's bedroom window & watching them unravel... The most powerfully honest & devastating film I've seen since "Once Were Warriors". And there was 1 cut on the soundtrack -- half in English/half in Farsi or something -- I think it was called 'Last Chance to Paradise'. I searched for it in the credits/but thery were so small I cd barely read them. Really good dancemusic/but w/a strong message abt how drugs & smoking fuck up yr kids.(So how come Alanis Morrisette doesn't write songs like that?)

    America copies so much from the Brits -- by now/we shd've learned from them how to make 1st-rate movies. If you're not the squeamish sort & you dig real-life drama/check out "Nil By Mouth" on video.




By Bagpuss on Tuesday, January 26, 1999 - 08:34 pm:

    It makes ya bosom swell with pride. We may have bad teeth but we can make a good film if we want to (as long as you yanks give us the money).

    Has anyone noticed how Gary Oldman dies in most of his films? He's like an inverted Bruce Willis.

    and for all you 'mericans out there, if you like NBM then check out the films of Mike Leigh. "Naked", "Life is Sweet" and "Secrets and Lies" are good ones to try.


By Jon on Wednesday, January 27, 1999 - 06:09 pm:

    "Naked" is one of the most amazing films I've ever seen. Haven't done "Nil By Mouth" but actually grew an additional thumb to give "Naked" three thumbs up. Rent and freak.


By Spider on Monday, October 7, 2002 - 03:58 pm:

    I watched "Nil by Mouth" a little while ago. The most brutal movie I have ever seen. Just ... brutal. There is nothing that tells you this is just a movie. This is real, and those aren't actors, and LIFE IS THIS BAD.

    I think the actor who plays Ray was also in "Sexy Beast," this time playing a soft and gentle man. I think I'll rent that, just for the mind-blowing factor.


By patrick on Monday, October 7, 2002 - 04:05 pm:

    I highly recommend Sexy Beast. Its a fun movie and Ben Kingsley is absofuckinlutelyfanshitastic


By Spider on Monday, October 7, 2002 - 04:08 pm:

    Hey, what you just did is called tmesis. I think I'll rent that tonight. I love Ben Kingsley.


By Spider on Monday, October 7, 2002 - 04:11 pm:

    PS. So you know who I was talking about, according to the IMDB, it's the guy who plays Gal.


By patrick on Monday, October 7, 2002 - 04:24 pm:

    yeah I know of him. The intro to Sexy Beast in particular with him is hilarious. Now report back tomorrow upon learning that im withoutacocksuredoubt right.


By Spider on Monday, October 7, 2002 - 04:28 pm:

    Yes, sir. (I typed sire at first -- hee!)


By Spider on Tuesday, October 8, 2002 - 08:23 am:

    Patrick, I watched Sexy Beast last night -- I liked it! I didn't expect it to be as funny as it was. It was a strange experience seeing Ray Winstone act as good-natured as he did....during the scene when Don and Gal are talking by the pool and the pool boy shows up, I expected Gal to erupt into violence and throw the boy out, so thoroughly did Ray Winstone inhabit the part of Ray in Nil By Mouth. Now that's something you should rent.

    Ben Kingsley was awesome. He rocks my world.


By patrick on Tuesday, October 8, 2002 - 12:04 pm:

    hotdiddlydamncock!


By Spider on Tuesday, October 8, 2002 - 12:09 pm:

    Will ya please rent Nil By Mouth? Pretty please?


By patrick on Tuesday, October 8, 2002 - 12:18 pm:

    ok. soon.


By Lacey on Saturday, March 27, 2004 - 08:24 pm:

    Do you know where I can find a copy of 'Last
    chance to paradise'. It is a brilliant song that is
    featured on Nil by Mouth, but not on
    soundtrack. I have looked everywhere for it.
    Please help.


By Carlsburg on Saturday, March 27, 2004 - 08:49 pm:

    Yahoo has 1,350,000 links for that,but i cant find the connection to the song...all you can do is tape from the movie.


By Carlsberg on Saturday, March 27, 2004 - 09:11 pm:

    Just had a thought...ERIC CLAPTON wrote the original music score,perhaps your looking in the wrong direction.


By Spider on Wednesday, June 9, 2004 - 10:23 pm:

    Has anyone seen "The War Zone," with Ray Winstone, and directed by Tim Roth?

    It came out a few years ago, but I just read about it now, and I'm dying to see it. Ray Winstone playing a sweet and gentle AND monstrously abusive character, all in one? Bring it on. That man can bring secret simmering evil like nobody else. (For all you weenies who still haven't seen "Nil By Mouth" -- SEE IT. It will give you an acid stomach, but it's worth it.)

    Problem, though. Neighborhood video stores don't carry "The War Zone," and I don't think it will be something I want to own. Neither do I want to see if my mom's video place has it, cuz it's not really something I want to watch with somebody else, knowwhati'msaying? I imagine I'll be curled up in fetal position 80% of the time, and movies like that aren't meant to be seen with one's mother.

    Anyway. Must find out a way to see this.


By Bors 219 on Sunday, January 23, 2005 - 07:36 pm:

    Does anyone know the name of the Artist that does Last Change to Paradise? I can't find any reference to this song anywhere but here on this page. I would appreciate any help.

    FYI - Nil By Mouth is an amazing movie. I have both UK & US Versions, but then again I have the UK and US version for every Ray Winstone film.


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