TONY

UK, 2009, 76 minutes, Colour.
Peter Ferdinando, Lucy Flack, Ian Groombridge, Ian Kilgannon, Neil Maskell.
Directed by Gerard Johnson.

Tony sounds an innocuous title for a film. And Tony himself seems an innocuous type, wandering around north London, but very stilted and awkward in his attempts at communication. He is the kind of person that one might find hanging around and think that he was harmless.

Not so. Tony has been jobless for 20 years and is virtually unemployable - we do have the opportunity to see him at a job interview, oblivious of what he is communicating about himself and his self-absorption and his unreliability. He has lived in a flat for ten years, munching corn flakes for breakfast, watching violent videos and going for walks. He ends up in all kinds of strange situations: phoning a sex centre with the number on display in the telephone box, offering to join two druggies and taking some speed, staring at a quarrelling couple in a cafe, in a small, upstairs brothel, in a gay bar...

But, Tony kills people, dismembers them and tosses the parts in plastic bags into the Thames.

This is a skilfully made case study of a middle aged man who is almost completely unaware of himself and acts out urges which are reinforced by the material he chooses to watch. He has no idea of guilt, compunction or remorse. There are no explanations given of how he came to be this way. He is just there.

Peter Ferdinando, a cousin of the director, is completely believable as Tony. While the film has some gruesome moments, these are presented graphically but exploititatively.

Tony would have very limited appeal but might find a life on specialist television.

1.The impact of this short film? The target audience?

2.Contemporary Britain, realism, the London settings, North London, Soho, the London West End? Characters in this context?

3.The photographic style, wide screen? Editing and pace? Score?

4.The title, the focus on Tony, expectations?

5.Tony, no background, no explanation to him or his character?

6.Tony at home, living in the flat for ten years, the conditions, his waking up, eating his cereal, watching the violent videos, his collection? Presenting the fact – and the question about the effect on him?

7.Tony going out, his appearance, haircut, moustache, gaunt? Awkward? Over forty? At the café, being accused of staring at the man and woman arguing, the warning, his being ousted? Talking to the boy about his love for football? The boy’s age? His later disappearance? Presumptions about Tony? The police interrogating him, the father arriving and his accusations? The boy found?

8.Tony being ignored on the street by the illegal DVD seller?

9.Going to the phone booth, the sex call, the two men pulling him out of the phone, the drugs, his going with them, going to the crack house, the money, his naivety? Taking them home, their both getting high? His smothering one of the men? Letting the other go?

10.Going to the gay club, watching the dancer, his awkwardness? Visiting again, bringing the man home, the man’s advances, Tony getting the hammer and killing him?

11.Cutting up the bodies, the gruesome scenes, the bags, depositing them in the river? His sleeping next to the dead man?

12.The job interview, his being oblivious of the impression that he was making? Going to the shop, the interview with the boss, failing?

13.Carrying the sign, Soho, going into the small brothel, the madam, with the prostitute, from eastern Europe, her explaining the situation, his wanting to pay no more than a fiver? His being ousted?

14.The TV licence man, the discussions about the licence, Tony killing him?

15.The police arriving, the smell, his explaining that it was the drains?

16.The film just stopping, the glimpse of a strange misfit? How insightful? A picture of contemporary society?