Cemetery Junction
From the combined pens of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant comes this tale of three young lads from a dead end Reading suburb called Cemetery Junction. They battle with themselves, their families and their friends, as they try to make sense of growing up and where their life is taking them. Do they throw off the oppressive shackles of their lowly existence, or do they make do and knuckle down?
Freddie Taylor (Christian Cook), Bruce Pearson (Tom Hughes) and Snork (Jack Doolan) are our three unlikely heroes in this story from the '70's. Freddie, Bruce and Snork have been mates since childhood and have messed around Cemetery Junction for years, getting up to no good.
However, Freddie starts to gain ambitions to break away from the humdrum factory lifestyle of his father (Ricky Gervais) and manages to secure a job working for an insurance company run by Mr Kendrick (Ralph Fiennes). Kendrick's daughter; Julie (Felicity Jones) happens to be a school day's sweetheart of Freddie's, but she is currently going out with another insurance salesman from the company, Mike Ramsay (Matthew Goode), so we have the love triangle in place for this thread of the story.
Bruce has issues with his father and despises the fact that he stays at home with a bad back, instead of going out to work. He also blames his father for his mother running off with another man. Bruce, although a smooth operator and a suave character, relies too much on his fists to settle any kind of debate.
The third member of the trio; Snork just has issues and really is the comedic element required to lighten this sometimes dark tale.
And that it's for the synopsis, we follow the very ordinary lives of these three main characters as they try to make something of their lives, but they always seem to fail. However, there is a lot more to the writing than this and Merchant and Gervais should be applauded for their exploration in to the social pressures, the juxtaposition between classes and the interaction between the generations that Cemetery Junction examines. That does make it sound slightly more grandiose than perhaps it should be, but you have to take the rough with the smooth here, and if you were expecting more stories akin to The Office and Extras, then you will be disappointed, but that's not what the film is about, the film is a gritty drama, with comedic elements, but then wasn't life in the Seventies just that?
Cemetery Junction reflects the austerity of the times, the working class ethos, coming home with dirt under your finger nails, in comparison to the white collar workers, with suits and brief cases. It also touches on racism, sexuality and women's liberation, all key points in the Seventies and ones which this film makes note of, although viewed with the aid of hindsight, the points can be taken lightheartedly.
It is a simple, but wonderful story. Excellently written and superbly performed by the key cast members, but ably supported by the peripheral players. Most noteworthy are Emily Watson as the downtrodden Mrs Kendrick. Steve Spiers as police Sgt. Wyn Davies, a jovial friendly copper, who ensures Bruce is kept on the straight and narrow. Anne Reid is just brilliant as Freddie's gran, her interplay with Mr. Taylor; Freddie's dad (Ricky Gervais), is superb and very reminiscent of many a 70's sitcom. The brilliant Julia Davies plays Freddie's mum, Julia Davies is always superb, whatever she does. Also, Bryony Hannah as Louise, a love interest for Snork, in a very different role to the one we are used to seeing her in, as Nurse Miller in Call The Midwife. Last but not least, and you wouldn't expect any different from a Gervais script and that is the inclusion of cameo's for Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington.
One point about Ricky Gervais in Cemetery Junction, he almost gets away from playing Ricky Gervais. Almost. Normally whatever he plays, whether it be David Brent in The Office, Andy Millman in Extras or even Mark Bellison in The Invention of Lying, he tends to be Rick Gervais. However, as Mr Taylor in this film, he does tend to steer away from the pseudo sarcastic and somewhat cringe-worthy persona that he normally portrays.
We have been waiting to see Cemetery Junction since it was out of the cinema, so we have been delighted to finally catch up with it now. Although the youngest member of the TNiFN panel did not appreciate the storyline as much as the older members, it was still warmly received.
TNiFN Rating 78% (Should be higher!)
