Small Time Obsession Review


by William Thomas |
Published on
Release Date:

16 Jun 2000

Running Time:

119 minutes

Certificate:

15

Original Title:

Small Time Obsession

Coming on a bit like Mean Streets set in the Polish community of Saff Lundun, Piotr Szkopiak's rough-hewn first feature bares plus and minus points in roughly equal measures. To his credit, Szkopiak doesn't resort to sub-Scorsese camera stylings or flashy Tarantino gunplay as he follows four friends (King, Merrels, Young, Banks) who become embroiled in an increasingly serious vortex of small-time crime.

The Polish community is an engagingly different milieu, the intimacy of longstanding friendships is nicely evoked and the young cast, for the most part, acquit themselves well. But there is too much plot here for such a small canvas. The shifting tone between comedy and drama never comfortably gels and the lengthy running time does mean it outstays its welcome.

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