About a Boy (2002)
On the occassions that I watch a film set in London, and spot a street that I often walk down or landmark that I pass on my daily travels, I cant help but feel a certain sense of satisfaction. London is an incredibly beautiful, diverse, weird and wonderful city that I don't see enough of on the big screen. I mean that literally, because although a film might be set in London, like Notting Hill or Match Point for example, there are only certain parts of the city that ever make it to the final cut. Hell, there are probably only ever parts of the city that are part of the script. Scouted out because they are squeaky clean, polished, instantly recognizable, and quintessentially 'London'. A tourists London that is. I rarely ever see the backstreets, the grime, the jarring paradox of a five million pound edwardian townhouse standing adjascent from an ominous looking council estate. Or it might be a semi detached house, facing a not so ominous looking council estate. For a city that accomodates more nationalities than any other in the world, I rarely see a representative of these great nations in films set in this great city.
Richard Curtis has long been criticised for supposedly pandering to American audiences, who are already predisposed to the awkward Britishness of Hugh Grant, rather than showing them a real cross section of London life. I'm not criticizing his films, like Four Weddings for example, which is one of my favourites of this sub-genre; if your film concerns the trials and tribulations of the upper middle classes then I don't expect to see the Mile End Road or backstreets of Harlesden all that often. They just wont live there, or visit on their daily travels.
There needs to be, however, a sense that other avenues are being explored in this genre and we do, occassionally, see that. In 2002's About a Boy, starring a very different Hugh Grant than the one we're accustomed to, and a young Nicholas Hoult (of Skins fame) it takes the work of two American directors, namely Chris and Paul Weitz, to bring this London to life, and reinvigorate the genre. In About a Boy, Hugh Grant plays Will, a freewheeling self made millionaire batchelor, who spends his days watching TV, playing pool, getting his haircut and going to fancy restaurants.
When Will begins attending single parents meetings (he has only an imaginary son) he meets Marcus, Nicholas Hoult's gregarious and amiable young shoolboy and the two soon become close friends. When Marcus's mother learns about this new friendship however, she is less than impressed, and wants quickly to get to the bottom of this dynamic. What makes this film so interesting, apart form solid performances from our leading characters, and great a great supporting turn from Toni Colllette as Marcus's emotionally worn down mother, is the way that London is depicted. Will may be a batchelor with a fancy London pad, but he doesn't live in High Street Kensington or Holland Park, but in Islington, one of London most psychogeographically fascinating boroughs.
Whereas streets like Upper Street (and the surrounding roads) are some of the most exclusive in town, Islington has some of the most deprived neighbourhoods in London. Being on the periphary of the city also adds another dimension; we see the Clerkenwell Road, alive with the hustle and bustle of many different London worlds colliding. There is a great sense of irony in the narrative, Will sees his life as a kind of self indulgeant Truman show ("I am the main character or this story, others may come and go but I am always here"), although unlike Truman, his essentially selfish existence does little to benefit the lives of others, that is until, however, he meets Marcus and learns that the daily trivialities of life are the things he has been missing out on. It is as refreshing to see another side of Hugh Grant, as it is to see another side of London; Grant is at times evasive, dissmissive and arrogant, something that some audiences will find difficult to get used to. His critics will have to concede that he does, indeed, have range. Most importantly though, this is a solid comedy drama, set on these shores, that seems to avoid the usual depiction of London attributed to films of a similar plotline, and was certainly one of the hidden gems of 2002.
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