16 Years of Alcohol

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Audience Member As a child, Frankie Mack (Kevin McKidd) is confronted with two pathways in life, relating back to his ambivalent feelings for his father. Faced with this swaggering man, a womanizer and a drinker, Frank is torn between rejection and unconscious imitation. From then on, he continually vacillates between a desire for self-control and stability, and giving in to hatred and mistrust, a legacy of his painful experience of betrayal. His first precocious glass of alcohol drags him in to a dangerous violent direction, which continues throughout his adulthood... "16 Years of Alcohol" explores one man's battle against the social and psychological ravages of alcoholism. The film is split into three sections: Frankie's troubled childhood, his violent adolescence as a ska-loving skinhead who commands a small gang, and a period of change, in which Frankie tries to believe in hope and love. The backdrop of historic Edinburgh set the feeling and environment in which we see Frankie´s violent demise as a human being and the resurrection that still ends with his past catching up with him. It´s a balance between hope and hopelessness in his life, and the end is left open to the viewer. I saw "16 Years of Alcohol" some years ago, and re-seeing it now doesn´t change my opinion about this movie. It´s such a strong and emotional story that goes through the screen. The homage to "A Clockwork Orange" is done in a great way and I do love the voice-over from Kevin McKidd and the philosophical narrative. Kevin McKidd is excellent as Frankie Mack and the beautiful Laura Fraser as Helen is a great counterpart to Frankie. The soundtrack adds to the storyline as well. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Rarely give up on a film before it finishes. The first 20 minutes of cliched narration were unbearable. This is clumsily punctuated by a backing piano loop which attempts to cling to your sympathies but instead really fucking gets on your nerves. The movie improves past this point, but not enough to feel like more than a failed homage to Kubrick's Clockwork Orange, I stopped wasting my time less than halfway through. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review Audience Member This is on one level a very gritty story of alcohol abuse and violence; on another it is an aesthetically realised elegy to hope and hopelessness. The beautiful images of historic Edinburgh are used unpretentiously as a backdrop to mindlessly savage beatings and physical intimidation, cinematic techniques involving varied use of lighting, colour, slow motion and overt symbolism. The artistic attempts of writer/director and former Skids band-member Richard Jobson are what make the biggest impression - hypnotically beautiful images of Edinburgh and a voice-over in that recognisable cadence, with repeating cycles of words drawing out every ounce of meaning from clichés like "hope"... He skirts cliché while playing with it, trying to show the violence endemic in that society and making many references to other films ('Clockwork Orange', westerns, 'Trainspotting', Martin Scorsese, etc.). It is larger than life and demonstrates how the mythic archetypes shape the characters rather too small for the roles they want to adopt. '16 Years of Alcohol' won Richard Jobson the award for Directorial Debut at the British Independent Film Awards. It has received glowing reviews from Time Out, The Guardian, and Sight and Sound. It has played at festivals the world over. Forget the dismal comments of those too cynical to enjoy real film-making. See this poetic triumph for yourself. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Great movie about a young man who struggles with the effects of a life fraught with alcoholism. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/29/23 Full Review Audience Member Pretentious! Deeply not moving monologues by stereotypical people. What a waste of talent. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/15/23 Full Review Audience Member Stumbled upon this film and was pleasantly surprised. Emotionally and visually moving. Artistic. Poetic. Absolutely loved the movie. Loved Kevin McKidd. Well-done Richard Jobson. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Read all reviews

16 Years of Alcohol

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