The Must See British Independent Film <i>Sixteen Years of Alcohol</i>

Sixteen Years of Alcohol is a British Film depicting an alcoholic's struggle to come to terms with the two conflicting sides of himself:  the violent addict and the passionate idealist.  It’s shot in Edinburgh, Scottland with absolutely beautiful cinematography and begins with the middle Aged Frankie Mac (Kevin McKidd) being beaten and kicked in an alley.  The rest of the movie takes places in a dream like state with Frankie looking back on his life.  The Director/Writer Richard Jobson based this movie off him and his brother’s real lives.  This gives the poetry and story a really personal realism that I think is it’s richest attraction.

Kevin McKidd ,who plays Frankie Mac, does an outstanding job and the movie as a whole is not very predictable, which is very refreshing.  The non-chronological unfolding of the story in the retrospective (looking back) point of view helps increase this effect.  The beginning is a little slow, but will keep you interested as you will instantly be able to empathize with the young childhood Frankie. There are three main stages of the film which consist of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. 

I don’t want to spoil the plot line for those of you who haven’t seen it yet, but in short an idealistic boy is exposed to the hard reality of his father’s true character.  This disillusionment continues into adolescent where Frankie becomes a violent gang leading alcoholic.  He finds love and tries to come out of his past, but his self destructive tendencies keep pulling him back. 

Frankie’s narration is bit simply and repetitive, but the shear charisma and dualism of the main character as he struggles with the two different sides of himself make him an extremely interesting multi-dimensional character.  The main attraction to this piece is the strong character driven development of the relationships Frankie Mac has and how they change throughout the different parts of his life. 

It’s extremely microscopic, or concerning the inner struggles of the main character.  Although, he is physically beaten up a few times, the real conflict is within himself and the POV never leaves Frankie.  I love movies in this perspective.  Most Hollywood films involve a third person point of view and mainly macroscopic or outward plots.

A few critics have said that it plays into the standard self destruction drug addict loathing formula, but I would highly disagree.  The concepts have been played out before and it’s true that some of the violence seems invented and lacks realism, but the movie pulls it off beautiful in a more poetic and thought provoking way then other films of this nature.  The alcoholism is a little too much on the tame side.  In the portrayal of a self destructive violent alcoholic, I expected to see him wake up and take a drink, or black out and wake up in his own vomit or some other signs of extreme drinking.  Instead you are simply given a few stumbling home scenes, but nothing very shocking

A couple of scenes are purposefully remnant of A Clockwork Orange, which is externalized referenced in the movie itself by Frankie’s bedroom poster of A Clockwork Orange.  Unfortunately some of the violent A Clockwork Orange flash backs lack direction, so they come off a bit confusing.  The transitions and the overload of symbols and metaphors were a little too much at times and made you ask yourself is this a dream sequence or really happening or what?  This created some confusion and took away a little from the films effect. 

This movie has been released on DVD and you can currently find it at any major video store or rental chain.  I definitely recommended this film to anyone who enjoys a serious non-predictable movie with beautiful cinematography, strong acting, and a rich poetic unfolding of a personal story.

It was nominated for in the 2003 British Independent Film Awards for Best Independent Film and Susan Lynch won the Best Supporting Actress category.  In the USA the reviews have been mixed, but on the positive side.  This is definitively a must see and may possibly become a cult classic.