I tossed in a dvd, snagged from an ever-growing tall pile of dvds and blu-rays sent to SHU-IZMZ for reviewing purposes. It seems like the pile never gets any shorter and no matter how many films I review from this pile, they just keep stacking up. Randomly, I grabbed a dvd with a title that sort of, ironically, grabbed me: PIGGY. The cover artwork depicts a man wearing a costume pig’s nose over his own, brandishing tow large knife blades, splattered with what appear to be blood spattering all over the knifes, the individual’s face, and the artwork of the cover. With a tagline below reading, “One by One, Revenge is Done“, I was intrigued about what lay in store for me if I popped this movie in to my player.
The synopsis of the story goes as follows:
Young Joe is a somewhat socially awkward young chap whom is always the one getting pranks played on him at work, bumped into rudely on the streets with no excuse me’s or pardon me from the rude assholes rushing around town, and sometimes is the shy and timid fly on the wall at all the social gatherings. Joe is lacking self-esteem, courage, and a strong personality of any sort in any kind of social setting. He probably was the kid picked on in school and got bullied frequently, being made an easy target because fear of notifying adult staff of any wrongdoing with Joe was never going to be a viable option. The dude is a big pussy.
Joe, played very convincingly by actor Martin Compston (FILTH, THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALICE CREED) goes out one night with his brother John (Neil Maskell, ATONEMENT) for a few beers at the local pub with a few other friends and another group of rowdy fellas also at the bar for some beers have a run-in with Joe and John when one of them bumps into Joe while passing by. Words are exchanged. Threats are handed out. Joe looks as if he would like to shrivel up and die, ends the night early, and leaves the pub while his brother John and the other chaps continue to drink and be merry. Unfortunately, the other group of guys are still brooding over the words of disrespect thrown at them when John decided to stick up for his meek brother when Joe’s apology was not enough to the guy that bumped into him while passing. This whole all too familiar bar scene scenario makes a great case for picking up a six-pack at the liquor store and spending the night in the comfort of one’s home drinking and watching some television.
Paul Anderson is PIGGY
As predicted, this barroom altercation is not going to be forgotten and one feels that the other party who felt slighted by John’s disrespectful words towards them is not going to let this go. As John stumbles out of the bar drunk, assumingly hours later, the group of men he was exchanging words with very heatedly are lying in wait brandishing weapons, one of which is a knife. John is stabbed, kicked, punched, and nearly beaten to death 5 or 6 guys, left lying on the streets of London in a wet puddle.
Joe hears of his brother’s attack, rushes to the hospital where John’s faithful girlfriend Claire (Louise Dylan, VAMPIRE KILLERS, EMMA) tearfully waits with frazzled nerves, just to arrive for his brother to go into a shock of some sort, his heart giving out and eventually resting in peace. Upon the news that his brother has died, Joe is devastated. Too shocked and numb really to get vengefully mad about the situation, he internally eats up his sorrow and pain. Then enters Piggy.
One day, Piggy (Paul Anderson, SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS, THE FIRM) shows up at Joe’s door and tells him he was a classmate and friend of Joe’s brother and heard about his death. Acting kind of cryptic and showing Joe a photo of himself standing with John as proof of their friendship, Joe does not really recollect his brother knowing any Piggy, but eventually states that he does think he remembered his brother talking about him (Piggy).
In the next few days or weeks to come, the film focuses more on Joe and and events that seem to trigger his fears and growing frustrations with his lack of courage in life and inability to take charge of any given situation. Example given, Joe gets mugged one night at knifepoint and does not bother to report it or really do anything about it. The next day as he is walking home from work he eyes a large butcher knife in the window of a shop, curiously contemplating buying it, viewer assuming it is not for culinary purposes. He then turns the corner to walk down an alley, notices a circle of individuals chatting and hanging out, thinks better of walking down the alley and having to pass through them as they are taking up the entire alleyway, and walks around the entire block to get past them. Once on the other side and passing them he notices it is merely a group of young kids, some of which are girls, chatting harmlessly with each other and hardly a threat. The following two scenes are setting up the viewer for the lead character’s transformation from total pussy to total psycho baddass.
I really enjoyed the strong and driving performance that lead actor Martin Compston delivered. I felt that he made the movie. He expertly portrayed a spineless, socially inept individual just trying to tip-toe through life with zero conflict and no altercations of any kind. Director Kieron Hawkes (RIPPER STREET, THE MIMIC), through the use of lead Compston’s story narration throughout the film, the viewer is privy to Joe’s inner thoughts and how his day to day mundane life are eating him up and leaving him not really actively participating in life.
As the artwork and cover of the film suggested, there was going to be some blood and violence, coming just 15 minutes into the film. Once Joe’s brother is assaulted and murdered, the film takes a very dark turn and revenge is the primary motivating factor driving the rest of the film. Myself, a huge fan of vigilante and revenge films, I was pleased that the film took a pro-active stance in Joe getting a chance to enact some swift justice on an extremely personal level.
The film was shot with a lens giving it a slight bluish and drab saturation, keeping in mood with the depressive and glib nature of our lead player Compston, and sad piano accompanies many of the more bleak scenes immediately following John’s death and the scenes thereafter as depression roots itself even more-so in Joe.
The pacing of the film moved at just the right speed, slow enough to build up the death of John and then picking up momentum after Piggy is introduced to Joe and starts hanging around him more and teaching him to take matters in life into his own hands. This is also where the violence and action really begins to happen and move the film along at a very entertaining and brisk pace.
The rest of the cast of the film is rounded out by Josh Herdman of the HARRY POTTER films, Roland Manookian (FOOTBALL FACTORY, RISE OF THE FOOTSOLDIER), Ryan Winsley (FALL OF THE ESSEX BOYS, ESSEX BOYS RETRIBUTION), Jumayn Hunter (ATTACK THE BLOCK, EDEN LAKE) all portraying hooligans at the pub and cast that I recognize from other British films that are worth mentioning and checking out. I am very familiar with the genre of films centering around gangs and soccer hooligans like RISE OF THE FOOTSOLDIER, THE FIRM, FOOTBALL FACTORY, and ESSEX BOYS, so I was floored to learn in researching this film that some new ones are out there waiting for me to view.
I really enjoyed PIGGY, finding it to be a solid flick worth spending 106 minutes of one’s time watching, and although there are some slight stretches of slow points in the movie (mostly those involving interactions between John’s girlfriend Claire (Louise Dylan)), I found the story, acting, and direction of the film to be overall satisfying and feel that for an indie flick it is better than most. I just found references to FIGHT CLUB in the film, as at times I was not sure if Piggy’s character was just part of the shattered psyche of a brother coping with the loss of a close family member and the result of an alter-ego of sorts to help pull him out of the murky waters of depression or if it was, as presented in the movie, an old friend of John’s.
The dvd, released by Inception Media Group, comes pretty much barebones and offers no special features except a few trailers before the movie comes on. The film is presented in a standard widescreen format and was released on May 13th to DVD and VOD. If a solid revenge flick with some psychological elements to the story sprinkled in are one’s taste, I can solidly recommend checking out PIGGY.
