A familiar storyline that has preoccupied many British filmmakers of late in their efforts to highlight the ails of the marginalised in bleak working-class Britain. Usually set in the north, as is the case with Trading Water – Manchester is the backdrop here – offering us another brutal account of the grim realities faced by disenfranchised young men in a society that sets them up to fail. Director Gino Evans debut portrays the psychological machinations of Danny (Joe Gill), a junkie seeking to carve out his way in life post-incarceration but is unable to escape his drug-idled past.
Danny’s newfound freedom proves too much to bear. The ubiquitous triggers being back in his home terrain emboldens his heroin use, seeking to numb the pain away at every opportunity. An initial scene on a bus, sees Danny materializing a tube filled with drugs he was kestering and proceeds to shoot up while a child is innocently playing in the proximity. A disturbing moment which exposes the thin veneer that separates the disparate of worlds of civil society and its sketchy decrepit underbelly.
Evans goes to great pains to visualise Danny’s OCD behaviours. His intrusive thoughts are depicted in snippets of him viciously striking the unsuspecting victim – the person he is interacting – prove jolting and linger a little too long, leaving one questioning whether it happened or not. After a while his OCD morphs into gentler expressions, which indicate a softening within.
Residing in half-way house with roommates in similar predicaments who at first prove antagonistic and territorial, Danny is isolated to his bedroom. Yet against the odds his rehabilitation shows early signs of success, where an increasingly hopeful future appears in the horizon. A supportive counsellor provides a space for thought and reflection, but the impetus of the change is the rekindling of a relationship with school friend Laura (Becky Bowe) who he bumps into whilst she’s soliciting. Further paying her to have sex with him. A full-blown obsession with Laura ensues, who comes with her own twisted baggage. She is under the complete control of her abusive partner, who pimps her out whilst pregnant. Barely able to look after himself, Danny clumsily endeavours to protect Laura but employs the same threatening behaviours as that of her partner.
The film is deserved of praise for its exploration of prescient themes of toxic masculinity, the disenfranchised working-class and the epidemic of mental health illnesses. It creates an awareness around the malaise of male rage, especially seeing it play out on the personal level with Danny. Where anger is either expressed with brutality or supressed by obliterating by drugs and alcohol.
Gill succeeds in embodying Danny’s recklessly and disruptive behaviour. He is effective in heightening those unhinged moments; often too awkward and anxiety inducing watch. But we also get glimpses of gentler, childish nature that does now how to group up. Quite a feat in a film preoccupied with shock and gruesomeness. Yet the ugliness and violence shroud an otherwise touching story.
There is a didactic tone likening to a public information video teaching the perils of drug-taking or hanging with the wrong groups. Evans’ no frills, hyperrealist approach is effective in creating an edgy unease at first, but once settled the filming style feels conventional and nondescript, giving no feel for what kind of director he is or will be. Perhaps by the second or the third feature we will find out.
Treading Water is in cinemas on Friday, April 25th.
