"Coming Up" (2003) TV series 2003-????

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

An anthology of half hour films by new writers

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Anthony Flanagan

...

Goose / ... (2 episodes, 2006-2008)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Ideal World Productions

The Snowman - The plot is fairly unspectacular but the dialogue is convincing and the three main actors do well to get the audience on board

Snow lives with his elder brother and his sister-in-law. His brother Seb works as a low ranking policeman, one of the few jobs he can get having done some time in prison – as a result he is keen for Snow to get back in school.

However Snow spends his time hanging around with the local crack dealers and has gotten himself into trouble, owing a local gangster a couple of grand and keeping a secret from his brother that could easily rip them apart.

While Channel Four may well rely heavily on reality shows, American imports and constant reruns of Friends, at least they can say that they are still doing their bit to encourage and foster new talent within the UK. The 'Coming Up' series is part of that effort and this episode of it looks again at the black experience in the inner city. It is fairly standard stuff with the usual 'caught up in drugs' plot but it is well enough done and convincingly small time so that I did get into it. The writing is natural enough – featuring some ebonics but not an extreme of them in the way some 'black' films will go to. The story is engaging and you do feel for the characters because even Seb is trapped in a bad situation and you can see the frustration and regret all over Kira's face.

The acting is a big part of making it work. Clarke is good as Seb and is a recognisable face. I had never seen nor heard of Ndiforneyn before but did enjoy him here – he was realistic and showed you the doubt on his face all the time. Uhiara's Kira is less sympathetic because you know that it is her total lack of self-control that put her where she is, at times she overdoes her performance but most of the time she is convincingly needy under the surface. The support cast feature a load of guys doing standard gangster stuff but it isn't that bad or off-putting.

Overall this is not a great film but it has enough going for it to be worth watching. The situation may be nothing new but the dialogue is pretty natural and, more importantly, normal – having street talk without overdoing it. The three main actors do well and bring it across well while the director works well within the confines of his budget.