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16 Years of Alcohol
Tartan Video // R // May 24, 2005
List Price: $24.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
16 Years of Alcohol opens with a nameless man bellied up to the bar in one of the many dimly light pubs in Edinburgh, and without prompting the bartender presents him with a glass. With a simple nod, the barkeep knows what this man is here for and proceeds to pour the amber colored spirit into the waiting glass. The man looks at it, contemplates his choice and the scene ends. Throughout the opening, we hear a voice over of a gruff Scottish man who talks mainly of hope, a theme which runs throughout this movie, as well as a movie to which 16 Years of Alcohol is compared, Trainspotting.
The man at the bar was Frankie Mac (Kevin McKidd), a man transformed by his choices of love, his lifestyle and the bottle. Growing up he idolized his father, admiring the relationship that he and his mother had. His Father would sit in a pub with his friends, his wife across the room and he would make a scene to announce his love for her then proceed to sing traditional folks songs to the watching group. Meanwhile Frankie would sneak outside to wait on the curb for his family to come out, and one time he witnesses his father walk out moments after a buxom blond and decides to investigate the happenings in the alley where his father just meandered. Of course, here the young boy sees something that he wishes that he never had his father and this no-named woman sharing something that should have been reserved for this man's wife. I can't imagine the pain a child would feel if he sees his idol and hero do something that is so blatantly wrong, but poor Frankie sees this philandering alcoholic father do this one more than one occasion. The depression sets in one young Frankie, and soon he turns to the same poison that he sees his family pain sprout from, the bottle.
Flash forward and we see Frankie as he lives his life for the moment; part of a roaming gang who dress sharply, drink to excess and have no qualms with spilling as much blood as they do Scotch. Frankie feels that there might actually be something to life other than what he's living, and during an encounter in a record store which his gang of misfits hang out, he finds love in the form of a woman named Mary (Susan Lynch). Sensing that something is different Frankie swears off the life that he's lived for so many years, but in a display of the faults that only a human can make, Frankie relapses and that's the last that we see of Mary.
Frankie realizes that the life of pain that he's been living was not the right life for him, and we see him grow and change from a person who deals with his personal demons on an external level with violence and alcohol to a man who learns to deal with things in more constructive methods.
Richard Jobson, first time writer-director is no stranger to the story that he tells in 16 Years. A semi-autobiographical reinvention of a book of the same name, he has lived some of the painful things that Frankie deals with in the movie. Jobson was part of a gang like this back in the 1970s, and lived through a turbulent teenage/young adulthood very much like the character of Frankie. Jobson wrote a great tale and directed an equally great movie, which may or may not appeal to the average viewer largely in part to the narrative voice over work that that was sprinkled throughout the feature. It was very heavy, emotional speech which, to this reviewer, really worked well for the film, and helped bring forth the attention and passion that Jobson and his cast were putting into this film.
The DVD
Video:
16 Years of Alcohol is presented in 2.35:1 and enhanced for widescreen televisions. The quality of the image is very good, with the gritty Edinburgh landmarks and dank, smoky pubs coming through very sharply. Colors, while muted throughout a large majority of the film are bright and vibrant when used. Even the very dimly lit scenes come across very clean with little grain, making for an overall very appealing presentation.
Audio:
Three options for your listening pleasure are included, and each is very good in their own right. The standard Dolby Digital 2.0, and 5.1 are included and both are mixed very well. But the standout track is the DTS 5.1 mix which helps bring out the ambient sounds a little fuller, and fill out the sound field that much more than the Dolby mix.
Music is used extensively in this film, with the tone ranging from a single voice carrying a solemn tune, to old punk from the UK. When the music is used, it's used very well and thanks to the great mixes of the tracks, it never overwhelms the viewer, not clouds the dialog.
Extras:
Tartan Video filled out this DVD quite nicely with a healthy shot of bonus features on 16 Years of Alcohol.
First up are two previews for two upcoming Tartan Video releases, Milwaukee Minnesota, and Mysterious Skin.
One interesting thing that was included that was actually somewhat interesting was a feature length storyboard presentation that played with the audio from the movie. Normally, this type of feature is limited to a single scene, and is almost a throwaway extra; but here I found myself quite often flipping back and forth between the actual scene and the planned scene, via the change angle button on the remote.
A 24 minute behind the scenes featurette is also included, and includes some great footage of the director and actors speaking quite candidly about the characters which ultimately helps flesh out the characters and gives them more depth. Richard Jobson divulges more detail about his ties to the characters, explaining what it was like being in a gang similar to the one depicted in the movie (as he was in the 1970s), how one identifies themselves with the people he hangs around with, the music they listen to and even the violence that they inflict on others. This feature really helps drive home the point this is a very personal story for Jobson, and give the feature itself that much more of an impact.
A feature not on the DVD itself, but in the liner notes is a set of film notes by Empire Magazine's Alan Morrison. It's a nice short read that is quite interesting, and by putting it on paper instead of text on the DVD itself, I found this a much easier thing to actually want to sit down and read.
A feature length director's commentary is also included. Jobson starts talking even before the first frame of the movie is onscreen, and rarely did he pause and leave dead air. Throughout the commentary he would speak about the locations and give even more personal information about the story, it does make for a fairly good commentary and is more entertaining than most.
Closing:
Jobson did a fantastic job on his directorial debut, and it definitely helps that he was so intimate with the subject matter. It took me two viewings to make up my mind on what I felt about this movie, but even after the first viewing I knew I saw something that was very good, plus it helps that Jobson has won multiple awards for this movie.
To compare this to Trainspotting, as has been done many times, is accurate in a deeper level, but Jobson doesn't need to shock with toilet diving or scenes of needles being thrust into arms to get the point about hope. I find this drama to be more along the lines of another great movie that spreads the word of hope, The Shawshank Redemption, as things are done in a way that you feel for the characters and learn to like them regardless of the horrible things they've done in the past.
The DVD is very well put together with a solid transfer, and a fantastic set of audio options that will satisfy anyone's audio system. The icing on the cake would be the great set of extras included, namely the behind the scenes featurette and commentary with Jobson. Recommended.
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