Film suggestions

December 2, 2011 11:45 AM

Watched the UK film "Fish Tank" the other night and I'm looking for similar movies. Movies dealing w/ or featuring prominently the lives of those in social housing. Suggestions? Thank you in advance.
posted by mwhyte72 to media & arts (13 answers total)

This is England
Rita, Sue and Bob Too
Nil by Mouth
posted by misteraitch at 11:54 AM on December 2, 2011

I like this kind of movie, too. There's a pretty in-depth analysis of Fish Tank here, and the reviewer talks about many other films that deal with the "urban margins" of British society. You might get some ideas from that. A couple that come to mind for myself are Harry Brown and Beautiful Thing. There's also this list of movies set on council estates.
posted by I love to count at 11:56 AM on December 2, 2011

See also: kitchen sink drama.
posted by misteraitch at 11:58 AM on December 2, 2011

All or Nothing
posted by Fairchild at 12:04 PM on December 2, 2011

Maybe A Taste of Honey, or Lynne Ramsay's Ratcatcher.
posted by bcwinters at 12:04 PM on December 2, 2011

Wow, I LOVED fishtank. What about Mike Leigh movies? Maybe 'Happiness'? He's got some seriously bleak UK public housing going on in places. PS the actress stayed there, right? From fishtank?
posted by bquarters at 12:20 PM on December 2, 2011

A TV documentary rather than a film, but you might enjoy The Great Estate broadcast earlier this year, a good bit of social history for social housing - it's up on YouTube.
posted by Abiezer at 12:34 PM on December 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

If you liked Fish Tank, you should definitely watch Ken Loach's Kes, which I felt was echoed in Arnold's film.
posted by hot soup girl at 12:35 PM on December 2, 2011

What about "attack the block"?
posted by bq at 1:15 PM on December 2, 2011

The Arbor, which is about Andrea Dunbar, the woman who wrote Rita, Sue and Bob Too. That last sentence absolutely doesn't do the movie justice at all. It's quite a complex film.
posted by shushufindi at 1:28 PM on December 2, 2011

It's hard to think of a British film that doesn't deal with people living on housing estates. A couple of suggestions come to mind:
If your interest also stretches to Ireland, Fundip and I watched the film Kisses last week; it was recommended by Netflix because we'd also watched Fishtank at some point in the past. And it is a lovely, quite touching film that I'm sure anyone will enjoy.
Somers Town is a film by Shane Meadows, who made the excellent Dead Man's Shoes as well as This Is England, dealing with kids living in an estate in that strange little part of London.
Shameless is an entertaining Channel 4 comedy/drama series that takes place on a Manchester estate.
Also if you're interested in British social housing you might appreciate the pictures I took while I was living in the shadow of a huge London estate, then being 'decanted' of residents in preparation for its demolition.
posted by Flashman at 5:40 PM on December 2, 2011

Not all Mike Keith films are set on estates - some are about very middle class milieus.

Looking For Eric is set on an estate as i remember. Also, is Brassed Off? There's also Aberrant Arnold's first film, Red Road.
posted by mippy at 3:21 AM on December 3, 2011

@Everybody - You guys really came through. Some great suggestions here. A couple I've seen but most I haven't even heard of. Thank you.
posted by mwhyte72 at 4:30 PM on December 3, 2011