Friday March 18 - Thursday March 31 2011
ENTERTAINMENT - FILM
21
hood to Anuvahood Left to right - Bookie, Enrique, Kay, TJ and Lesoi relax in Anuvahood Revolver Entertainment
Giving the ghetto a sense of humour
EVEN though Anuvahood is set in a West London council estate, it’s far from being just anuva gloomy urban drama. Adam Deacon, of Kidulthood, Adulthood and Shank fame, wrote and directed Anuvahood with the sole intention of showing the funnier side of life on a council estate. The result is 88 minutes of facemelting hilarity that will leave even the toughest mandem crying with laughter. The storyline itself isn’t exactly groundbreaking, but the pace and energy displayed by the cast is enough to keep you engaged (and giggling like a child) the whole way through. The film follows Kenneth (Deacon), on his quest to gain the cash and respect he so badly craves. With his parents nagging him to get a job and friends telling him to stop being such a wasteman, Ken-
neth (known as Kay to his mates) embarks on an adventure to ensure he achieves the “big tings” he dreams about. Suffice to say things don’t go exactly to plan and Kay and his mates Bookie (think Carlton Banks), TJ, Lesoi and Enrique end up in big trouble with bad people - namely Tyrone, the local badman with more brawn than brains. It’s not all laughs in Anuvahood though. There’s a brutal fight scene, a bit of knife crime, some questionable antics with tomato ketchup and some drug dealing, though Deacon and the rest of the cast do a stellar job of keeping it convincing and comical from start to finish. Anuvahood has been dubbed as the first-ever UK urban comedy and draws heavily from American hits such as Friday, How High and House Party, but manages to put enough of a British spin on things
to maintain it’s originality. The film features a stand-out cast of well known and up and coming UK talent, including Richard Blackwood, Linda Robinson (Birds of a Feather), Jaime Winstone (Kidulthood), Ashley Walters, Jazzie Zonolo (of Channel U and Channel AKA fame), Femi Oyeniran (Kidulthood/Adulthood) and Ollie Barbieri (JJ Jones from Skins). As highly entertaining as Anuvahood is, there are some more serious messages to be taken from the film - mainly about being yourself, not following the crowd and standing up for what’s right. Again, not exactly groundbreaking, but put across in a way that the audience will be able to relate with. Anuvahood is what it is. It’s funny, fast-paced and engaging, though it probably won’t change your life. A couple of the charac-
ters seem pretty pointless (Enrique is more two-dimensional than Daffy Duck) and there are a few questionable scenes, but as long as you don’t take it all too seriously, you’re bound to see the funny side. The UK urban cinema circuit has been filled with gritty, dramatic films about the hardship of growing up in the inner-city slums and Anuvahood has come along at the perfect time to give the genre a fresh lick of paint. Whether you’re from the hood or from the Cotswolds, you’ve no reason to be scared of venturing into Anuvahood this spring. By Oliver Pelling
Anuvahood is out now
Tyrone’s questionable taste in boxers