16 Years Of Alcohol (2004) Synopsis:
This film explores one man's battle against the social and psychological ravages of alcoholism. As a child, Frank is confronted with two pathways in life, relating back to his ambivalent feelings for his father. Faced with this swaggering man, a womanizer and a drinker, Frank is torn between rejection and unconscious imitation. From then on, he continually vacillates between a desire for self-control and stability, and giving in to hatred and mistrust, a legacy of his painful experience of betrayal. His first precocious glass of alcohol drags him in this dangerous direction, which continues throughout his adulthood.
16 Years Of Alcohol (2004) Movie Review:
This artful and introspective examination of addiction and psychological turmoil is just too serious and self-important to reach general audiences. As a young boy in Edinburgh, Frankie (de Caestaecker) is emotionally scarred when he catches his hero father (McCloud) in an act of infidelity. And he's further tormented when as a young man (now played by McKidd) he falls in with a gang of Clockwork Orange-like droogs (led by Blyth) and has a difficult romance with the too-nice Helen (Fraser). Years later, when he emerges from his alcoholic haze, he tries to piece his life together with the help of an acting coach (Carter) and a similarly troubled woman (Lynch) he meets at an AA meeting. But it's not so easy to undo the damage.
Jobson's film is clearly autobiographical in some way, whether literally or poetically, because it taps into real emotions and thorny issues. The problem is that nothing is expressed in a way we can grab onto. We feel like outsiders watching a piece of experimental theatre we don't quite understand. This isn't to say that the film is confusing; it isn't at all. We clearly follow the simple plot, and we clearly see the pain in each extremely well-played character (McKidd is excellent; Lynch is the standout). But the film never touches us simply because it ignores the truth of life. We only see the downbeat scenes, like Jobson is trying to clear his head of ghosts, so he puts them all on screen in a romanticised, belaboured view of troubled childhood, youth and young adulthood. But the pain only resonates when it's set against a whiff of spirit and joy. Meanwhile, Frankie's incessant narration is over-written like a mopey performance art monologue. This is all very frustrating, since the film examines truly important themes with first-rate cinematography and acting. If only the script was able to connect with us.
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16 Years Of Alcohol (2004) review written by: Rich Cline
7th September, 2008 
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