People wondering where the plot is in this film should stop looking because there isn't really a coherant one to speak of. It's a sequence of events in one teenager's life and if all loose ends aren't tied up then that is probably because that's what life is like. One kid joins the army and that's that; a big black guy trying to find out who robbed him comes to a dead end and goes no further; a love interest is hinted at but never develops; an escape route for the eponymous Charlie is offered but ultimately rejected; we never find out what happens to the kid who shoots a man, whether the one who's run over is actually dead (it's only hinted at as far as I can tell), where Charlie finally goes to - and so it goes on. All this might sound like spoilers but it isn't because there's no plot to spoil. But what you get here is an excellent portrait of one boy's life, his state of mind, his attitudes, loyalties and hidden hopes. I spent the film wondering why he stood by his horrible friend and, to answer the query of another review, felt that he gave that friend the gun because he'd just about given up on him; believed that he no longer cared. Or perhaps, having been unable to shoot the other man himself but really wanting to, he actually hoped that the other kid would do it for him.
This is a well crafted rites of passage film, beautifully filmed and well acted (and top marks to Northerner Paul Nicholls for a faultless London accent). I have to agree that South London's large Asian community was pitifully under represented and there were far too few black faces to be realistic either. As far as the film's brilliant colour scheme is concerned, I loved the director's deliberate attempt to move away from the drab, depressing way that working class London is invariably depicted. We do have glorious summers, brightly painted doors and windows on houses, colourful clothes, trees and flowers a-plenty and even the kind of community spirit that the film portrayed. We have both the negative and the positive that "Goodbye Charlie Bright" contains and plenty of good looking people too! Which reminds me of another negative comment by another reviewer; none of the characters where impossibly handsome or beautiful and I've seen plenty walking around South London who certainly wouldn't look out of place on a catwalk. But I have to admit that I've never seen so many Millwall shirts gathered together in one place and it's a chilling image indeed!
This is a well crafted rites of passage film, beautifully filmed and well acted (and top marks to Northerner Paul Nicholls for a faultless London accent). I have to agree that South London's large Asian community was pitifully under represented and there were far too few black faces to be realistic either. As far as the film's brilliant colour scheme is concerned, I loved the director's deliberate attempt to move away from the drab, depressing way that working class London is invariably depicted. We do have glorious summers, brightly painted doors and windows on houses, colourful clothes, trees and flowers a-plenty and even the kind of community spirit that the film portrayed. We have both the negative and the positive that "Goodbye Charlie Bright" contains and plenty of good looking people too! Which reminds me of another negative comment by another reviewer; none of the characters where impossibly handsome or beautiful and I've seen plenty walking around South London who certainly wouldn't look out of place on a catwalk. But I have to admit that I've never seen so many Millwall shirts gathered together in one place and it's a chilling image indeed!