Instant Credit (2004) (TV)

User Rating:

9.1/10   

Director:

Michael Hines

Writer:

Marc Pye (writer)

Genre:

Short

Plot:

Frankie is a chef who's workmates make fun of him all day, but it's getting better. |

Cast

Billy Boyd	...	Frankie
Sanjeev Kohli	...	Taxi driver
Alan McCafferty	...	Justin
Alison McKinnon	...	Gail
Sandy Nelson	...	Alec
Gabriel Quigley	...	Justin's girlfriend
Simon Weir	...	Jeff
James Young	...	Nick

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland, UK

Short but sweet

Instant Credit is a half hour short featuring Billy Boyd as "Frankie", playing his girlfriend "Gail" is Billy's real life girlfriend Alison McKinnon.

It was nice to see familiar locations like the front of Glasgow Central Station and Prestwick airport. The film had some nice touches to it, but the real strength of it was the sweetness of the relationship which is really the story of the film rather than the "borrowed" credit card. The credit card is just the method used to reunite Frankie with his possibly imaginary girlfriend Gail who has moved down to London to pursue a career in modeling. Frankie is a nice enough guy who isn't exactly doing that well in life but makes the best of it despite the fact that none of his friends believe anything he tells him owing to his life being a little bit unusual. But his mother really is marrying a near eastern fisherman, his dog really did have fourteen puppies and he really is going out with the girl on the magazine cover in his locker. Or is he, things have got a bit strained since Gail left for London and the scene in which Frankie recalls her departure is, along with the scene where they reunite in her flat in London, one of the strongest scenes in the film. Allison McKinnon proves herself a more than adequate actress, really the only weak performance in the film is by the businessman who provides the credit card to fuel the story. Although he is clearly intended to come over as artificial, it feels stagey instead and doesn't quite work.

This is not a shiny high budget production but it settles into itself well after the first few minutes and the characters are appealing and entertaining. It could actually have lost five minutes quite easily and might have felt a little more slick if it had, the extended montage scene in Paris was unnecessary and I could have done with less of the first scene with the businessman. OTOH the girls in the chemist shop were hilarious. There were some other very nice touches; the scene at the ticket machine bemoaning the train price to Paisley, the scene with his mother's boyfriend, and the scene tags stating the locations stand out in particular.

Well worth seeing when it comes on TV, alas it will likely be shown to Scottish viewers only.