Borrowed Time

Borrowed Time

10 July, 2012
by: Steph Hurst

Stephanie Marie reviews a five-star tragi-comedy about loneliness with some taxidermy thrown in. Natch.  

I've never heard an audience laugh so uproariously from start to finish as I did at the première of Borrowed Time, the debut feature from writer/director Jules Bishop. It's a dark comedy and the latest film to come out of Film London's Microwave scheme—a talent-led training and commissioning platform for micro-budget filmmaking.

In a breakout starring role, Theo Barklem-Biggs (The Inbetweeners Movie, Silk) plays Kevin, a luckless yet lovable lad who seems to alienate everyone around him. Following a string of bad decisions that leaves him running for his life, Kevin resorts to burgling a cantankerous old man named Philip (a brilliant performance by Phil Davis) whose only friends are taxidermy specimens. Philip is waiting to die and radiates a loneliness so profound that it's palpable. Their unlikely friendship ultimately redeems them both.

Also noteworthy is the cast's onscreen chemistry. Juliet Oldfield (Bronson) shines with steely dignity as Kevin's sister Becky, but the real scene stealer is Warren Brown as Ninja Nigel—a self-parodying Scouse-ninja and the epitome of tragicomedy.

Shot on 16mm film with vibrant splashes of technicolour, Borrowed Time is a visual treat. The production design is stunning, especially Philip's house. Set on the iconic Greenway, a path literally built above the sewers, the cinematography is replete with beautiful wide shots of the cityscape, featuring the Olympic Stadium as a faint backdrop. 

However, Borrowed Time escapes the conventions of British social realism. It trades cynicism for comedy and pathos, and the fundamental belief that tea makes everything better. This heartwarming and hilarious urban tale will have you laughing till the last frame with a feel-good finish that beckons to the child in all of us.

Borrowed Time is released in the UK on 21st June

Steph Hurst