That's not IrnBru they're drinking lol
At least once a week, I watch something that makes my $10.99 a month subscription to FilmStruck/Criterion Channel totally worth it, and I need to start sharing these motion picture epiphanies.
Let's start with the one I stumbled upon last night: The Angels' Share (2012), a selection from the Criterion Channel's Friday Double Feature this week. It's the unexpectedly endearing tale of a bunch of laddish Glaswegian "neds" who meet while doing community payback, and subsequently befriend their whisky-loving mentor, and the sharpest of the bunch soon learns to appreciate the value of fine spirits. While at a whisky tasting session in Edinburgh, they learn about the discovery of an extremely rare cask that's about to be auctioned for God knows how many pounds. They cautiously hatch a plan to steal some of the precious hooch, and ironically learn to be better friends and better humans in the process.
This low-level heist flick is surprisingly more emotionally tender and visually subdued than you expect from most other such films in the genre, which lends it a light-hearted charm in the end that you never would have predicted from the relatively dark and heavy start. Our hero, Robbie, gets community service by the skin of his teeth after appealing to the court that found him guilty of violently assaulting a young man in a drunken brawl. His girlfriend soon gives birth to their son, Luke, and he vows to make himself a better man for the sake of his boy. His new friends are deceptively dim, but are genuinely striving to be well-behaved. This million-pound whisky thing, though, is too tempting not to pursue.
The cutest thing about The Angels' Share IMHO is that it has subtitles. For those unfamiliar with the Glasgow patter, it is one of the thickest accents you will ever encounter in all the UK. It's oddly beautiful and colorful, however, and bubbles in your ears. I just found it hilarious that despite their speaking ENGLISH, they are nearly unintelligible 75% of the time, and that the filmmakers found it necessary to include the "translations" for the viewers' sake.
Best enjoyed with a wee dram. FIVE STARS!
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