Twin Town (1997)

Director:

Kevin Allen

Writers:

Kevin Allen (writer) and
Paul Durden (writer)

Release Date:

9 May 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

Rugby. Tom Jones. Male Voice Choirs. Shirley Bassey. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyllllantisiliogogogch. Snowdonia. Prince of Wales. Anthony Hopkins. Daffodils. Sheep. Sheep Lovers. Coal. Slate Quarries. The Blaenau Ffestiniog Dinkey-Doo Miniature Railway. Now If That's Your Idea Of Thousands Of Years Of Welsh Culture, You Can't Blame Us For Trying To Liven The Place Up A Little Can You?

Plot:

Twin Town opens with wide sweeping shots of seaside Swansea; to be the place of action for the next one and a half hours...

Plot Keywords:

Karaoke | Drugs | Compensation | Car | Revenge

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Llyr Ifans	...	Julian Lewis (as Llyr Evans)
Rhys Ifans	...	Jeremy Lewis
Dorien Thomas	...	Greyo
Dougray Scott	...	Terry Walsh
Buddug Williams	...	Mrs. Mort
Ronnie Williams	...	Mr. Mort
Huw Ceredig	...	Fatty Lewis
Rachel Scorgie	...	Adie Lewis
Di Botcher	...	Jean Lewis
Mary Allen	...	Olive
Paul Durden	...	Taxi Driver
David Hayman	...	Dodgy
Kevin Allen	...	TV Presenter
Brian Hibbard	...	Dai Reese
Morgan Hopkins	...	Chip Roberts

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Canada:18A | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Germany:16 (w) | Norway:18 | Portugal:M/18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Llewellyn Steet, Neath Port Talbot, Wales, UK

Company:

Agenda

Trivia:

"Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantisiliogogogoch" is the name of a town in North Wales. The name translates as "The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave".

Quotes:

Jeremy Lewis, Julian Lewis: Health spa? Aaaah!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Film Geek (2005)

Soundtrack:

In the Summertime

A GEM - the unpolished Black Opal of the film industry...

Very very funny.

A sleeper hiding in the dusty back shelves of the video store, that I took out one night with curiosity and no expectations. I'm three-quarters English, a quarter Welsh and have spent a long time in Australia, but I don't think it was just the Welsh part of me that enjoyed this movie.

I loved its roughness, its quirkiness, its lack of perfection and its reality and sure! some of the characters were grubby, superficial and less than enervating.

This is a loosely woven picture of reality in an under-privileged urban environment with all the mundanity, idiocy, drama, violence, beauty and humour of everyday life that eddies around us, and in this instance, the Lewis twins. There are a couple of truly hilarious scenes that very few actors could emulate, but the twins in the movie are twins in real life and it flows naturally.

Revenge escalates inevitably beyond the frivolous into the 'deadly' serious with a speed and abandonment that has you gasping. But unlike some movies that lose it at the end, this one magically gathers in all the loose threads and delivers a finale of epic proportions that elegantly spans the coldly ruthless and the vauntingly sublime and leaves you with a sense of deep justice.

GREAT. This is the sort of stuff the Americans don't do very often or very well, and mostly misunderstand when someone else does it properly. This was done properly.

Reviewers disappointed by an inevitable comparison with Trainspotting obviously missed a lot of the subtle stuff in both movies that is exclusive to the towns, times and cultures they portray. They got sidetracked by the 'big' issues ....

Shelve your preconceptions, grab the remote and replay all those bits that are hard to catch if your ear isn't tuned to the accent. Sure it helps if bad language doesn't get in the way of enjoyment, but let's face it, you should be used to those Anglo-Saxon and Gaelic words by now - so if you can handle it, this one's a delight - but it'll never be mainstream.