Wednesday 9 February 2011

Tony (2009)

Written and directed by Gerard Johnson, and featuring an absolutely fantastic central turn from Peter Ferdinando, Tony is a disturbing, nasty, darkly comic movie.

Tony is the kind of guy that you can see on a busy high street any weekend in most big cities. A quiet, easy to ignore, man who people rarely take notice of. In fact, nobody would ever realise if the man disappeared. Which explains why he can be such an effective serial killer. But when a local child goes missing from the estate some people finally begin to notice Tony. People that he doesn't really want noticing him.

There's not a lot to cover in a review of this film. Nothing is given an extra flourish and there isn't anything to overwhelm you while you're somehow gripped from beginning to end so why does the movie rate so highly? Playing out like a UK version of Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer (and I am fully aware of how lazy that comparison is, I apologise, but it's still a fair one) with a dollop of humour, Tony is just a little film constantly punching above it's weight and succeeding.

The performances are all pitch perfect. Ferdinando is so good in the central role that I immediately want to see him in future projects worthy of his skills. Elsewhere, we don't really get any well-known names or faces (besides Ricky Grover) but everyone convinces as whoever they are on screen. Absolutely.

The script is pretty good and direction is solid but this movie is sold, and does so well, on the strength of it's performances. Well done to Gerard Johnson for making so many great, early decisions that the film feels as if people just had to turn up and point the camera. Well worth your time though impatient viewers may dislike the slow start.

9/10.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tony-DVD-Gerard-Johnson/dp/B002RXK792/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385681889&sr=8-1&keywords=tony



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