Starring Callum Scott Howells, best remembered for his role as the lovable Colin – the shy one out of the Channel 4 series’ loud and proud gang – and Samuel Bottomley, who appeared as one half of Scottish rapping duo Silibil N’Brains in James McAvoy’s directorial debut earlier this year, The State of Us is a strong contender in this year’s Main Competition at EIFF.
It’s a personal and weighty story about the ups and downs of a lifelong friendship between two men, yet one that never loses its sense of fun.
’We’re not out out but…out. You know?’
We join Frankie (Bottomley) as he breaks his childhood best mate Taylor (played by Howells) out of the hospital under cover of darkness to uphold an old tradition: lighting fireworks together at the top of a hill. The pair have done as much for years, but Taylor’s ongoing battle with terminal cancer has both men wanting to make every second count. Naturally, mishaps and mayhem come thick and fast as the boys try to end the night on a bang but the solid foundation of the pair’s friendship grounds everything with great effect rather than letting the narrative run away with itself.
The two leads have already shown themselves to be capable actors, but this works brilliantly as a showcase of their talents all the same. Bottomley brings such a different character to Frankie compared to his work on California Schemin’, swapping out a Dundonian accent for something more Bradford-based, that I genuinely didn’t recognise him for the first twenty minutes of the movie.
I spotted Howells right away, not least because Russell T Davies wrote him such a powerful arc in his breakout role, but that’s no knock against his performance here. Frankie and Taylor have an excellent rapport with one another, weaving between the light and the dark in a way that really does lend a sense of history between the pair of them.
The idea of honing in one long night, especially one that rests on the edge of something greater, considering Taylor’s illness, brought American Graffiti to my mind as the film played out. I can’t confirm or deny whether the boys land themselves in hot water with a young Harrison Ford and drag race into the morning light to the music of The Beach Boys – you’ll have to find the truth of that out for yourself – but both films have a sense of grappling with misspent time. We’d all love to go back and have one last night partying with old friends, and Frankie’s determination to try and keep up the pair’s longstanding tradition even when Taylor is positively skeletal and hooked up to a catheter, is easy to resonate with.
At ninety minutes, the film feels pretty perfectly pitched for what it’s trying to do, and by the end of it, I was well and truly on board for the ride with these two charming leads, so much so that even when they take a page out of the Perks of Being a Wallflower playbook, I didn’t take issue with it. It’s been a ridiculously warm British summer – sometimes you do just want to stick your head out for some air…
This film has an age rating of 15.
The State of Us is showing at EIFF 15-16th and 18th August, with tickets available here. It has yet to secure wider UK distribution.
