Gasman (1997)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Lynne Ramsay

Writer:

Lynne Ramsay (writer)

Genre:

Short | Drama

Plot Keywords:

Independent Film

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 4 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Lynne Ramsay Jr.	...	Lynne
Martin Anderson	...	Steven
James Ramsay	...	Da
Denise Flannagan	...	Ma
Jackie Quinn	...	Woman
Lisa Taylor	...	Girl
Robert McEwan	...	Boy

Directed by
Lynne Ramsay

Writing credits
Lynne Ramsay		(writer)

Produced by
Gavin Emerson	....	producer
Barbara McKissack	....	executive producer
Oscar van Heek	....	executive producer

Cinematography by
Alwin H. Kuchler

Film Editing by
Lucia Zucchetti

Production Design by
Jane Morton

Art Direction by
Chris Cull
Robina Nicholson

Costume Design by
Gill Horn

Makeup Department
Nikki Brannan	....	makeup designer

Production Management
Karen McConnel	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Chi-shan Cheung	....	third assistant director (as Chi Shan Chung)
Anneli Downing	....	first assistant director
Nigel MacInnes	....	third assistant director
Marvin MacKenzie	....	third assistant director

Art Department
Andy Drummond	....	art department assistant
Vivien Mackay	....	assistant art director
Jamie MacWilliam	....	art department assistant
Tim Munro	....	art department assistant

Sound Department
Kenny Allan	....	boom operator
Stuart Bruce	....	sound recordist

Camera and Electrical Department
Lucien Grieve	....	grip
Ian Jackson	....	gaffer
Henrietta Larkin	....	clapper loader
Drew Mansell	....	electrician
David Taylor	....	electrician (as Dave Taylor)
Scott Ward	....	focus puller

Other crew
Margaret Graham	....	continuity
Leigh Hurst	....	production assistant
Joan Johnston	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
• Holy Cow Films
• Scottish Arts Council, The
• The Scottish Film Production Fund

Distributors

• Criterion Collection, The (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

15 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

This short film is featured on the Criterion Collection DVD for Ratcatcher (1999).

Movie Connections:

Edited into Cinema16: British Short Films (2003) (V)

'Gasman'

I've never been a fan of short films for their 'art-school' and 'experimental' qualities. Simply being a product of those two is not enough. They are almost always too personal, too opaque, and too much obviously serving as 'stepping-stones'.

I was therefore happy to see Lynne Ramsay's short films as the chrysalis for her superb feature films. I was also impressed to learn that she won the Cannes short-film prize, *twice*. And now I can see what others saw in her, for _Gasman_ is the best short film I have ever seen.

Available on the Criterion DVD with _Small Deaths_ and the less good _Kill the Day_, _Gasman_ is a fully-fledged, visionary film that translates directly into the skill and grace of _Ratcatcher_.

_Gasman_ moves directly from the first piece of _Short Deaths_, with the distant father and Lynne Ramsay Jr. again taking centre screen. But _Gasman_ comes to a kind a fruition--a full story with many of the same themes and techniques of _Ratcatcher_: closely observed yet elliptical human behaviour, housing projects, slum-beauty, children's natures, a jumbled impressionistic world caught in partial body closeups and shots from behind people.

The film 'tells' nothing, but the story is dead clear and builds slowly to an emotional pitch that is almost unbearable.

This is a film of jaw-dropping beauty. Sounds trite, but that's how I feel. When the Da and two kids walk on the tracks, the camera is set to a partially closed iris which intensifies the available light and colour in an otherworldly sheen--one that is gone when they return on the same tracks at night, in disappointment. Beauty in service of story is the key.

This *is* the best short film I have ever seen.