Although set in contemporary London when it was filmed in 2007, ‘Clapham Junction’ (named after the area where most of the action is centered) has a decidedly old-fashioned feel to it’s plot. And a very negative one at that. Commissioned by the UK’s Channel 4 Television Channel to mark the 40th Anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality and written by Kevin Elyot (who had previously penned the critical hit stage play ‘My Night With Reg’) it leaves one with the very distinct impression is that although we maybe ‘legal’ now, we are all, without single exception, very unhappy with our lot.The movie opens with a lavish wedding between two seemingly successful middle-class men, but before the afternoon is out one of the grooms is trying to get into the pants of a cute young waiter at the Reception. What follows in the next 24 hours is a series of different plots/events that have tenuous links to each other running the whole gamut of closeted married gays who frequent public toilets for their fix; self-loathing gays who get their kicks out of beating other gay men up; paedophiles; gay-bashing that turns into murder, and an irritating group of wealthy middle-class educated straight people who feign compassion but trot out a whole slew of nasty bigoted platitudes. Even the one single well-adjusted gay man is unsuccessful in both his work and his love life.
It’s a bleak picture that the Producers defended to the hilt when it met with such controversy when it was first shown, and even on re-viewing now to refresh my Blog, I unswervingly stand by my opinion that whilst aspects of it, such as the hate-crime, undoubtedly exist, this on the other hand hardly accurately reflects the changes in our society in the past 40 years as Channel 4 so noisily claimed. (n.b. there was one gay man savagely beaten to death there in 2005).
On the positive side, I give full credit to the superb acting from the wonderful array of British talent. For gay movie buffs there is the reunion of James Wilby and Rupert Graves who set the screen alight together in movie of E.M. Forster’s ground breaking ‘Maurice’ (and the Wilby’s character here is also trying to get into Grant’s pants!) And I was so struck with young Luke Treadway as the 14 year old who pursued the older man with such a remarkable passion that seemed so very real indeed.
There is lots of explicit nudity mixed in with the gratuitous and bloody violence, and if that’s your thing you’ll like this. But on the other hand if you are just about to come of the closet, then don’t even think about watching this very unbalanced drama …. just go to a Bar instead. Or better still watch something like Andrew Haigh’s excellent ‘Weekend’ instead to see what being gay in the UK today is really like.
