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Drama – Shank (18)
As savage as Lord Of The Flies, as devastating as kids, and as nightmarish as Irreversible, Shank is a drug-fuelled, cum-drenched, slam-dunk dance through the mean streets of Bristol. Tapping into contemporary nihilsim – happy-slapping, gang culture, DIY porn and barebacking hook-ups – and cut with a razor blade, it’s the most thrilling, terrifying coming-out story you’ll have seen in years, welcoming debut director Simon Pearce and his team of unknown actors as explosive new talents. 4/5. Andrew Copestake.Gay Times

Socialist Review

Quote: “"At a time when prejudiced crap like Bruno makes a box-office hit, we need more films like SHANK instead - films that show real people coming to terms with their sexuality and hopefully confronting and dispelling the homophobic ideas in the heads of those who see them."

Locally produced in Bristol with an up-and-coming cast and crew, this drama is remarkably tough, constantly challenging our preconceptions. It also transcends its budget to create interesting characters and some truly harrowing situations.

Cal (Virgo) is a teenager afraid to reveal his real desires to his friends, a gang of happy-slappers who torment anyone who's different from them. Sneaking around having anonymous sex with men, Cal is terrified his gang will discover that he's gay. But he goes out on a limb to rescue the French student Olivier (Laurent) from a beating, and the two become more than friends. Meanwhile, a former one-night stand (Summers) offers Cal a way out of his violent world. But his pals Jonno and Nessa (Bott and Payne) won't leave things alone.

The real revelation here is 21-year-old director Pearce, who with his first film creates a fresh and provocative atmosphere that focuses on the characters while allowing us to feel the fierce, emotionally charged world they live in. It's a bracingly honest approach to chav culture, capturing complexities of sex and sexuality, as well as the violence, with remarkable insight. It's rare to see a film present homophobia as honestly as this, combining paranoia with confusion and self-loathing. Rich Cline - Shadowsonthewall.co.uk

Shank is a tough film that unflinchingly asks a lot of its audience. A hate story, a love story, a story of tribal ties, of friendships ripped asunder, a story of honesty, deception, of pain and happiness, this film addresses every contradictory thing about the human condition and reworks it into something unique and wonderful. Compelling, excruciating, uncompromising, Shank is a beautiful, brutal film that portrays contemporary society in all its unlovely and lovely glory. Stephen Beeny Gaydar Nation

And forget about all the nudity and did-they-or-didn’t-they eye-popping sex scenes in Shank (of which there are plenty); what you’ll be replaying in your head is blowback scene with Cal and his hunkiest bud, Jonno — one sharing a lungful of marijuana with the other by leaning in ever so close to him and exhaling the smoke into his open mouth.

Interestingly, the biggest controversy about Shank isn’t its sex, the violence, the fact that its director is only 21-years-old, or that it was refused by Britain’s BFI and the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival - Xtra Vancouver

REVIEW BY Hendrik Van Harn

Saw Shank last night at the Vancouver Queer Film Fest. There is no room for any kind of campy gay fluff (aside from the occasional off-the-cuff stereotypical comic relief provided by Olivier); assuming it would even be appropriate in this fringe-of-gay-society film. Not for the timid, “Shank” broaches some pretty deep themes of emotional repression and their clash with restrictive cultural boundaries, and the physical and emotional scars that go along with them.

While the lines between good and evil or right and wrong remain bluntly clear throughout the film, the motivations for the characters’ actions are less obvious- including the deeper and arguably more influential subconscious responses to cultural influences that are not so easily read. This leaves you in a state of feeling constantly conflicted throughout the film about the characters and whether you condemn them one moment and forgive or pity them the next... or in some instances, at the same time. There are even a few instances where you can’t begin to grasp what someone’s motivation for what they are doing is until much later. “Shank” is a perfect palette for anyone interested in the human condition, nature versus nurture, and social conditioning and repression and of the individual.

To say this movie is provocative would be inaccurate; to suggest so says it uses sex, violence, and emotional manipulation as tools designed to stir up the viewers’ emotions. I would suggest that the film is naturally evocative of emotional response not by design or intention, but entirely by the unfolding of the plot. The characters, their interactions, cultural situations, and values that all play out to create a real-world situation. This film draws on some very real-world scenarios and reminds of the ugliness of homophobia, violence, the pain and fears of the closet, the horrors of gang life contrasted against the beauty of love, friendship, pity, and forgiveness- all masterfully combined with a gritty realism unrivalled in gay flicks. “Shank” has raised the bar for excellence in films beyond the gay-themed genre.

Stellar acting, “Shank” is the first gay film I've seen that has mainstream film-quality performances and complex story themes. It has interconnected characters with hopes, fears, faults, and redeeming qualities- you can't help but love, hate, pity, and, arguably, respect every character at some point throughout the film, and often experience conflicting emotions towards each of them from start to finish.

For me, this film was a very sharp reminder that there are those out there who can’t be themselves, and have to live in fear. It’s a wakeup call for those of us who may feel we live in a happy post-gay world filled with complete acceptance of diversity and instills in me a re-affirmation of what Pride is, what it has done for us, and how far we have yet to go.

A must see for anyone gay, straight, or otherwise who feels on the fringe from both mainstream society, and gay society as well- “Shank” really reaches to the heart for those of us who don't seem to quite fit in, whichever way we go.