London Film Festival Review: 1234
1234 is perhaps the nicest film I've seen for years, a gentle, modest, airy Brit flick centering on a budding musician. Stevie (Ian Bonar) is a bespectacled young guy who spends his days in the durge of a London call centre and his spare time dreaming of success on the indie music scene. Alongside his drummer friend Neil (Mathew Baynton), the duo recruit the more experienced, but slightly gruff guitarist Billy (Kieron Bew) and his arty bassist friend Emily (Lyndsey Marshal) to complete the line-up of their new band, 1234. As they punt out demos to record labels and work their way round the grubby gig circuit, personal and musical challenges arise, and shifts in the band dynamic threaten the whole enterprise.
Giles Borg's feature film debut has a refreshingly natural feel and it's easy to believe, as claimed, that he's spent a fair share of his own time in struggling indie bands. Conversations in the film ring true, and the situations the band find themselves in are mostly believable, with little of the dramatic hyperbole often employed to lend extra weight to the otherwise everyday.
The characters are clearly delineated types, but far more restrained than you might expect: the 'wacky' drummer isn't actually that wacky, the grumpy new member is really a pussy-cat, and Stevie is just, well, really nice. So whilst all this makes for an honest and credible take on the story, it does mean that it's dramatically rather flat. The moments of ostensible high drama come and go without making much impact, failing to reach a satisfying crescendo. And whilst it's nice to see some restraint and subtlety in the script and performances, other elements tread a far more conventional path. Anyone who's seen a British film from the 90s will be more than familiar with the broad caricatures; the nutty Welshman, the charisma-free boss (here of the call centre) and the obnoxious, immature boyfriend, inexplicably dating the sweetest of girls. The clichés are, however, handled with a tremendous charm that permeates the rest of the script, and so it's easy to just run with it.
Occasionally vibrant shots hint at a more imaginative and striking film. A romantic moment conducted at a viewpoint across the city employs great use of (mis) focusing, exploiting night time London's myriad of artificial lighting effectively, but it's a rare flourish from an otherwise functional palette.
1234 is a curiously underwhelming film that never quite raises the comedic or dramatic bar high enough but remains an entertaining and good natured watch. Likewise, potentially punchy musical sections never quite inspire as they might have. It's a breezy and sweet 90 minutes, but for a film about an indie band it doesn't have quite enough of that indie spirit to clinch the deal. Thoroughly nice then, just not hugely memorable.
