THE FORGOTTEN
About A Boy
released 2 May 2014 | 15 | DVD Director Oliver Frampton Cast Clem Tibber, Shaun Dingwall, Elarica Johnson, James Doherty
This glum British ghost story concerns a teenage boy bereft of his mother who goes to live with his dodgy geezer dad on a thinly- populated London council estate.
London council estates can be pretty scary, and this one certainly is: young Tommy ( Clem Tibber) starts hearing strange noises and screams from the property next door. His father ( Shaun Dingwall, Rose Tyler’s dad in Doctor Who) isn’t sure what’s afoot, and when persons unknown start entering their flat, things worsen further, so Tommy enlists new pal Carmen ( Elarica Johnson) to get to the bottom of the incidents.
Themed around the difficulties of family, in particular absent or neglectful parents, debut director Oliver Frampton’s film could barely be more downbeat. You won’t see a more drab, dour, crepuscular movie all year. The unhappy characters sport pinched faces as they traipse round grey, desperate landscapes, moving from shuttered rooms to bleak cafes to dingy communal areas, having no interaction with a world that isn’t in cold shadows. The mystery intermittently intrigues, but The Forgotten’s heavy cloak of depression falls quickly and never lifts.
Extras None. Russell Lewin
Director Oliver Frampton and writer James Hall were both previously script editors on police show The Bill.