Seeing Bypass premiere at Venice was disconcerting. Written and directed by Duane Hopkins (whose first film, Better Things, was at Cannes in 2008), produced by Newcastle-based Third Films, filmed in Gateshead, it’s a sympathetic portrait of “the English economic underclass”.
Tim (well played by rising star George MacKay) does his best. But his dad’s disappeared, his mum has died, his brother’s been nicked, the bailiffs are round. Tim is trying to provide for his troubled sister by “working” as a petty criminal, fencing stolen goods on his bike, thieving a bit. But crime bosses beat him and steal from him.
For good measure, Tim has a nasty, possibly fatal infection (septicaemia? leukaemia?), giving him rashes, headaches, vomiting and fits. Then his girlfriend Lilly (Charlotte Spencer) tells him she’s pregnant. Delirious in hospital, Tim is tended by the benign spirit of his mum. And then there’s the baby...
As producer Samm Haillay emphasises, Tim is “an innocent in a guilty environment”. The film’s stylistic mannerisms — lots of out-of-focus slo-mo, endorsed by a clangorous soundtrack — drum this message home.
If, watching this film (in competition for the Golden Lion) as a Brit, one felt abashed, it wasn’t always for the reasons intended.
The Venice Film Festival runs until September 6
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