The family of Raymond, his wife Val and her brother Billy live in working-class London district. Also in their family is Val and Billy's mother Janet and grandmother Kath. Billy is a drug addict and Raymond kicks him out of the house, making him live on his own. Raymond is generally a rough and even violent person, and that leads to problems in the life of the family.
Ray Winstone
Ray
Kathy Burke
Valerie
Charlie Creed-Miles
Billy
Laila Morse
Janet
Edna Doré
Kath
Chrissie Cotterill
Paula
Jon Morrison
Angus
Jamie Foreman
Mark
Neil Maskell
Schmuddie
The family of Raymond, his wife Val and her brother Billy live in working-class London district. Also in their family is Val and Billy's mother Janet and grandmother Kath. Billy is a drug addict and Raymond kicks him out of the house, making him live on his own. Raymond is generally a rough and even violent person, and that leads to problems in the life of the family.
It's Kathy Burke who steals this for me with a powerfully emotional characterisation of "Valerie". She lives with her brutish husband "Raymond" (Ray Winstone) and her permanently geared-up brother "Billy" (Charlie Creed-Miles). None of the are strangers to drugs and to booze, but when her husband reckons his wastrel brother-in-law has pinched his stuff, he turfs him onto the streets where here resorts to his own mother "Janet" (Laila Morse) for a bed and a source of cash to feed his habit. 'Billy" is a bit of a thoughtless cretin and his behaviour leads to even more turmoil for his sister when "Raymond" finally flips and she is hospitalised. Believe it or not, this has the semblance of a love story to it. The relationship between "Raymond" and "Valerie" might actually run a bit deeper than that of an impoverished couple struggling through the motions from day-to-day. It's the evolution of that partnership that makes the characters a bit more interesting, but I felt the vitriolic and angry dialogue was mostly just a repetitive series of Anglo-Saxon tantrums and drug-fuelled anger - and that let it down for me. Still, Gary Oldman quite effectively shines a light on his perception of how life on a south east London housing estate is endured rather than lived. It's dark, visceral, condemnatory on many levels and quite a tough watch but Winstone only has one gear and for me and he never really convinces.
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