Kicks (2009)

My sincerest wish for the two girls in this movie, is by the end they've GROWN UP. I understand they have rubbish home lives and little future prospects, but come on... obsessing over a footballer to the extent of carving his name into your skin, and breaking into his car to steal his Ipod? Please, have SOME dignity. Of course, it goes without saying they stalk him relentlessly too... as well as plan to get boob jobs to further cement their position as brainless future WAGS. What are they teaching young ladies in schools these days? Is HEAT magazine the national curriculum?The situation comes to a head when, hearing the guy they live for may be transferring to a club in Spain, they kidnap him under the pretense of a one night stand... to try to get him to stay. Yeah, that'll work. And it's in this secluded bungalow, as they hold a gun to this tied up soccer player, a few home truths start to emerge, which show how pathetic this hollow culture of celebrity worship we live in really is. Why revolve your life around someone you only know from the gossip column, when they see you, at best, as a notch on their bedpost? Far better to actually WORK HARD towards a goal, rather than make a fool of yourself in front of someone who scores them for a living. Pretty slick phrasing there, yes? Perhaps I should sell framed pictures of those pithy words for a fiver each. Now, there's a plan...Anyway, there are a few credibility issues here... namely, the ease in which two young girls can gain access to a top footballer without any security being present, and somehow convince him to put a blindfold on as they truss him up like a turkey. I know soccer stars have a reputation for not being the sharpest knives in the drawer, but we're talking I-can't-dress-myself levels of stupidity here. Still, it's an admirable little British independent feature which a great message. Even if it may fly right over the head of most of the target audience... 6/10

The premise of Kicks intrigued me. Two girls who obsess over a Liverpudlian football player (Lee) take their obsession too far. It sounded like a cross between The Loved Ones and Misery (which I both love) although I knew it was more of a dark drama than a horror film. However, I believe it would've benefited delving into straight, crazy horror!Kicks does begin with intrigue, it sets up two characters nicely and the Liverpool setting is something different and rarely used in films. I thought the obsession was brilliantly done, often chilling with make-shift tattoos and a picture of Lee under the quilt. I also thought that the characters were explored in-depth and with a sense of ambiguity about them. Unfortunately Kicks lacks the narrative drive that it desperately needed. It begins to ponder after half an hour and once it does look like things are getting thrilling, they quickly become repetitive and dull.The first half is very realistically done, whereas the second half turns into something over the top, which is fine, accept that it presents itself as something believable and so lacked the crazy fun The Loved Ones was able to offer. I believe that it should've indulged itself in horror to make it extremely twisted and more entertaining. Instead the ball runs to a stand-still and you end up feeling as fed up as Lee.The acting is quite shaky with an extremely wooden performance from Lee, but that shouldn't worry you too much. What you must appreciate here is the brilliant central relationship and the message about celebrity culture. My sister has an unhealthy obsession with Helena Bonham Carter and Lady Gaga, making it all the more chilling for me as I believe she would do something like this! However, it does become too far-fetched without making anything fun out of it. It's worth a watch but is unfortunately a piece of wasted potential.

Two teenage girls from Liverpool are romantically fixated on a soccer player. On learning that he is about to transfer to a European team, they kidnap him.As usual, the actors playing the teenagers are noticeably older than the ages they are playing. Having said that, all three of the principals are very good (I have already come to the conclusion that Nichola Burley is well worth watching, but Kerrie Hayes is also excellent).The problem is that, as you can tell from the synopsis, the story is simple and slight and, by the time some real drama gets under way, you may well have lost interest. There are lots of moody atmospheric shots, but one gets the impression that director Lindy Heymann thinks she is making a movie with a lot more meat on the bones than is actually the case. The film is not a bad effort, but needed tightening up in its earlier stages.

I noticed this film by chance in my local video rental shop. Directed by Lindy Heymann (who received a British Independent Film Award in 2002 for co-directing Showboy), "Kicks" premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 2009 but was overshadowed by the praise heaped on Andrea Arnold's Fish Tank. It tells of two Liverpudlian girls in their mid-to-late teens who follow everything to do with Liverpool star player Lee Cassidy (Jamie Doyle). Fanatically. Peeking through a high wall to see him training, they progress to waiting for him for hours after matches, hanging around outside his luxury apartment, and breaking into the underground complex where his silver Mercedes is parked.The two female leads are fantastic: Nichola Burley (who will feature in this year's Wuthering Heights) plays the black-haired WAG wannabe Jasmine and Kerrie Hayes the poorer, fair-haired Nicole who is convinced that she is in love with Lee and longs for the famous footballer to rescue her from the depressing limitations and boredom of her life. Where will the two girls' infatuation lead when their heartthrob announces a sudden transfer to Real Madrid? Given the social realist tone of the film, we know that the consequences of their unbridled projections are likely to be bleak.The film's title takes on an extra nuance in some of the final, painful moments. Blending burgeoning sexuality, female friendship and social commentary on celebrity culture and the aspirations of many modern-day British teenagers, it asks us: When does a teenage crush become something more irrational? Where does idolisation end and stalking begin? What could be the consequences of confusing our fantasies with reality? And what are the dangers of the position occupied by celebrities in modern culture and society? In doing so - and this is one of the key positives of Leigh Campbell's screenplay - idolisation is not depicted as static but as a process: Nicole, in particular, goes through a gamut of emotions in the course of her celebrity obsession, shifting from dreamy hope, through disappointment, to a desire for revenge. But the script reveals deficiencies in the second half, especially with regard to the lines given to Lee. The pacing and plausibility falter in the long scene inside the caravan, spoiling the tension in this otherwise superb, energetic film. (8 stars) Extras include an 18-minute featurette with the director and two female leads, along with the trailer.Recommended if you like: Me Without You, Morvern Callar, Fish Tank, My Summer Of Love, This Is England