Salford gets my movie, problem lies elsewhere...
THE writer of Michelle Keegan’s first movie, savaged by critics, says it is going down a storm locally.
After its release on Friday, the Salford-based Strangeways Here We Come was given one star by The Guardian, and no stars by The Times. But the man who created it says London-centric reviewers don’t get tough, brutally real, northern humour.
Ex-Corrie star Michelle, plays Demi, one of many victims of loan shark Danny Nolan, played by the city’s own Stephen Lord.
The Times described it as a ‘sleazy’ comedy and The Guardian as not ‘so much a love letter to the people of Salford as a dreadful, perhaps actionable slur’.
The film was written and directed by Salford lad Chris Green.
Chris said: “Night after night local audiences roar with laughter watching the film. They stay behind to say how much they love it. During the Q&A sessions people are asking incisive questions about the inspiration behind the film.
“Film critics loathe it and have been vitriolic in their reviews. So what are the audiences seeing that the critics aren’t?
“Is it just the old north/south divide? Is it a class thing? Or are the critics, who are mostly based down south, just not getting the bleak, near the knuckle, savage Salford humour?
“The critics see the characterisations as patronising stereotypes and damaging to the people of Salford, but the residents attending a viewing at Salford Arts Theatre strongly refuted that view.
“The critics might find the events in the film unbelievable and contrived but they are direct personal experiences or drawn from stories told by friends and workmates of mine.
“To be fair, only living in Salford would expose you to the rich vein of banter and brash humour that is deployed, both as a shield and a weapon, against a system that is stacked against residents from the start.
“But there’s definitely something that the people seeing the film have picked up on, and the critics haven’t, and that’s ‘community’.
“They see a disparate and dysfunctional group of people who have come together to support and look out for each other.”
Chris says it was ‘community spirit’ which got the small-budget film made in the first place.
There was no help from Creative England or the British Film Institiute , so favours were called in, the community on Salford Precinct and local organisations threw their weight behind it.