FIVE SECONDS TO SPARE

UK, 1999, 99 minutes, Colour.
Max Beesley, Valentina Cervi, Ray Winstone, Andy Serkis, Sarah- Jane Potts, Kris Marshall, Sean Pertwee, John Peel.
Directed by Tom Connolly.

Five Seconds to Spare is a little-seen British drama of the late 1990s. It can be called bizarre and weird – and is somewhat difficult to follow. It is set in the music world of London in the 1990s. Max Beesley plays a young musicial coming from the country hoping to compose and to play with a band. He encounters agent Vince, a drug-addicted crazy played by Ray Winstone. Andy Serkis also plays a bizarre character who is an agent. Max Beesley’s encounter leads him to meet a young woman, Madeleine, played by Italian actress Valentina Cervi (Artemesia, Portrait of a Lady).

The film involves drugs, bands playing in clubs, record deals, mysteries from the past, the work of agents. It also involves a musician and his being murdered by two dwarve – at the instigation of the drug-addicted agent.

The film moves from one episode to another without much logic – being drawn together at the end.

This is the only film to date written and directed by Tom Connolly.

1.The impact of the film? Interest for English audiences? Worldwide? The music world?

2.The importance of the music, the variety of songs, performance? Record deals? Deejays and radio performance? Clubs? The money perspective on the music industry? The drugs connect with the industry?

3.The London settings, the set and production design, dark colours, interiors, nights? An eerie feeling to the film? The meaning of the title?

4.The structure of the film, William, Vince, Chester, going to the flat? The drugs? The group going for the recording? The dwarves arriving, the murder, William witnessing it? The aftermath? The flashback?

5.William, from the country, earnest, his music, with the group, playing, performing? The crowds, liking the beat music but not the romantic? His playing alone on the radio? His meeting with the older woman, her talking about the Dwarves of Death? Going to the library, finding out more about her? Vince as the producer of the album? His greater involvement with the group, interactions with the members of the band? Meeting Madeleine, the agent with her, their coming to the gig? The attraction to Madeleine, going to eat? His meeting Twig, her friendship? The mystery of the older woman, her daughter? The build-up to the killing, the repeat of the killing? The aftermath, Vince and his madness? Chester and his behaviour? The resolution?

6.Vince, a Ray Winstone performance, drugs, the music agent, going berserk, seeming calm? The interaction with the woman, her explanation of herself, the attraction to William, her child? The past with Vince – and letting him fall into the river?

7.Madeleine, friendship, the gig, the agent, the promises?

8.The members of the band, their skills, hopes? Performance?

9.The background characters, an enclosed world in London? A bizarre presentation of this kind of world?