SYNOPSICS
Goodbye Charlie Bright (2001) is a English movie. Nick Love has directed this movie. Paul Nicholls,Roland Manookian,Phil Daniels,Jamie Foreman are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2001. Goodbye Charlie Bright (2001) is considered one of the best Drama movie in India and around the world.
Charlie is a London youngster who,with his friends,indulges in streaking and petty crime. However he aspires to better himself though his reckless friend Justin ruins his chances of working with his cousin Hector as an estate agent. Another of Charlie's friends Francis learns that his girlfriend has been unfaithful with the older Eddie and seeks revenge but ends up getting run over by Eddie. Justin steals a gun and drags a reluctant Charlie along to kill Eddie,though he only wounds him. The two boys end up on a roof with the police below before their fates are finally settled.
Goodbye Charlie Bright (2001) Trailers
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Goodbye Charlie Bright (2001) Reviews
Good film, probably only for the English though...
I think it'd be hard for anyone from another country to relate to this film...which would in turn make it quite hard to enjoy it... It doesn't pull its punches - to be honest it was kind of strange...I grew up with kids like the ones in this film, and it was like a flashback in a way. This film isn't an epic, it's not a world-changer...it's just like a snapshot...a glimpse into their world. It's hard to explain... It's worth a look in - I just happened to be staying up late and it came on cable...started watching it and carried on... Maybe go rent it if it's in your local video store. Sorry this review isn't more eloquent - my mind's still on the film.
Stealth gay movie?
I got a copy of this film at a Prowler store in London last year because it was on the markdown table and any non-porno film going for 5 GBP that had three naked lads on the back cover seemed a bargain even if it would have to wait till I got my PAL friendly DVD player. When I did finally get to see it I was quite happy that I picked it up, as it's the type of film that will never be released in the US NTSC format. Besides the format translation trouble, there's the trouble that all the lads live in council housing (the projects) in south London and speak a British dialect that would be very hard for an American ear to understand. The story deals with Charlie Bright, and his boyhood pals Damien, Tommy, Francis and Justin. These lads have grown up together since they were toddlers and still spend most of their waking hours together, wasting time, pulling pranks, doing drugs and doing some thieving to pay for them. However they are now coming of age and drifting apart. Tommy has joined the army and is leaving soon; Francis has found a steady girl and is now drifting away from the guys. Damien is the most daring thief of the lot and `would do anything for a few quid but you could never trust him.' That leaves Charlie and Justin. Justin has grown up in an almost parent-free environment and has attached himself so tightly to Charlie since toddler hood that the neighbors have noticed the especially close relationship and have taken to referring to Justin, when talking to Charlie, as `the wife.' While none of the boys exhibit any outwardly gay actions it is this `special friendship' between Justin and Charlie that gives this film its gay interest. Charlie is in fact straight and has interest in a girl living in the same council flats but is afraid to make the first move for fear that the ever-present Justin will somehow embarrass him or otherwise screw it up. Justin on the other hand is content to let things go on as they have and treats girls as a target for teasing just as he has done for years. In the end Charlie loses his patience and does something that allows Justin to do things that will force the end of their close association. How much Justin perceives of Charlie's motives, as he smilingly carries out his end of the little drama is where the mystery and the brilliance of this piece lies. Straight folks have panned this film as being plot less and a `waste of lottery funds' but reading between the lines I saw a heartbreaking story that was original and memorable. I'd be interested in knowing what others think if they ever see this unheralded movie.
Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner...
In all honesty, people need to stop hating on this film and start seeing it for the simple bit of local London British genius it is. This movie is on my top five favourite movies of all time list indefinitely! Not because it's epic or because it has an all-American cast - because it doesn't, it's just real. Admittedly if you're not from London or can't stand a cockney accent then this film is most definitely NOT for you. Other than that I think you'll love it and if you don't/ didn't then I'd love to know why... I defend it to the end! I seriously thought that Eastenders would be the be-all and end-all of Paul Nicholls but he so proved me wrong.. Whatever he does I will always remember him for this movie! He was absolutely brilliant (and cute too). Roland Manookian is not to be forgotten either as the annoying little side-kick that everyone loves to hate. And Jamie Foreman is the man as soon as we are introduced to his character "Tony" on screen... What a fantastic cast!!! Call it personal preference but there were so many laugh-out-loud moments for me in this film and times that I wanted to just cry... It's a roller-coaster of emotions. I recommend this to everyone!! And if you're disappointed then I apologise but I'm confident you won't be. Funny, sad, exciting all at once!!!
Lively but familiar
Nick Love's sparky début tells the story of two lads growing up on a rough south London housing estate (possibly Thamesmead?). On the brink of a life of petty crime, their close friendship is threatened by the immaturity of one, and the other's lack of commitment to life on the edge, and the film follows the course of their inevitable divergence. The movie's strengths include a lively pace and a capacity to make you feel sympathy for its characters, in spite of their frequently antisocial behaviour. Equally, however, there's not a lot on show here that you won't have seen before, and the ending, which conjures an upbeat note where logically there should be tragedy, lacked (for me, at least) the emotional power I think it was supposed to convey. This isn't a truly great film; but neither is it a movie without promise.
A slice of South London life.
People wondering where the plot is in this film should stop looking because there isn't really a coherant one to speak of. It's a sequence of events in one teenager's life and if all loose ends aren't tied up then that is probably because that's what life is like. One kid joins the army and that's that; a big black guy trying to find out who robbed him comes to a dead end and goes no further; a love interest is hinted at but never develops; an escape route for the eponymous Charlie is offered but ultimately rejected; we never find out what happens to the kid who shoots a man, whether the one who's run over is actually dead (it's only hinted at as far as I can tell), where Charlie finally goes to - and so it goes on. All this might sound like spoilers but it isn't because there's no plot to spoil. But what you get here is an excellent portrait of one boy's life, his state of mind, his attitudes, loyalties and hidden hopes. I spent the film wondering why he stood by his horrible friend and, to answer the query of another review, felt that he gave that friend the gun because he'd just about given up on him; believed that he no longer cared. Or perhaps, having been unable to shoot the other man himself but really wanting to, he actually hoped that the other kid would do it for him. This is a well crafted rites of passage film, beautifully filmed and well acted (and top marks to Northerner Paul Nicholls for a faultless London accent). I have to agree that South London's large Asian community was pitifully under represented and there were far too few black faces to be realistic either. As far as the film's brilliant colour scheme is concerned, I loved the director's deliberate attempt to move away from the drab, depressing way that working class London is invariably depicted. We do have glorious summers, brightly painted doors and windows on houses, colourful clothes, trees and flowers a-plenty and even the kind of community spirit that the film portrayed. We have both the negative and the positive that "Goodbye Charlie Bright" contains and plenty of good looking people too! Which reminds me of another negative comment by another reviewer; none of the characters where impossibly handsome or beautiful and I've seen plenty walking around South London who certainly wouldn't look out of place on a catwalk. But I have to admit that I've never seen so many Millwall shirts gathered together in one place and it's a chilling image indeed!