Cal

By: Raymond Murray
In-House Review - Jul 01 2013

Set in the economically depressed England of today, Cal is a startlingly powerful drama of a young gay man lost and the visceral follow-up to the hit 2009 film Shank.

Twenty-year-old Cal (Wayne Virgo, reprising his role from the original film) returns from France to Britain after receiving news that his mother is ill. His finds his home city of Bristol facing hard economic times brought on by the global economic crisis - with poverty and crime on the rise and rioting and looting almost a nightly occurrence. It is not a warm homecoming as Cal finds it difficult to fit in. Unable to get a job, he is confronted by his sick mother who remains stubbornly homophobic and wants nothing to do with her gay son.

While navigating his way across this new landscape, he meets Jason, a young student in need of Cal's help. However, his act of kindness brings him into contact with a dealing pimp and a race against time to make peace with his mother and get out of town as quickly as possible.

Cal is a tale of a shattered family and one young man's desperate search for love, respect and acceptance.

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Retuning to Britain after learning that his mother has become ill, Cal sees that the poor economy has cause his hometown to experience rioting and looting almost every night. Unemployment, especially among youth, has hit a high. His aunt, Jane, has moved into their run down home and is drinking heavily so that she can forget what is going on and tries very hard to seduce Cal. He soon meets a young student who needs some help and in doing so, Cal comes into contact with a dealing pimp. Cal is really only interesting is making peace with his mother and leaving once again as soon as he can.

Christian Martin directed this bleak look at urban English life. The film looks at politics and society through an intense gaze. Cal's mother with her homophobic outlook is one of the problems that he faces and he really wants to build a relationship with her but he is also faced with what the larger society is facing-poverty, unemployment and political distress and upheaval. This is a film that hits hard and as we watch we find ourselves experiencing Cal's own challenges. Being British himself, Martin shows us an intense look at how the devastated economy affects the youth of his country and does so with real footage of what is going on and Cal's own desperation. Yet there is a bit of hope and we see that in the love story between Cal and the student. Quite powerful, this is not a romantic film that concentrates on a relationship but rather is concerned with what is going on around the two young men as the romance develops. This is a bit different than Christian Martin's other films and perhaps that is what I like so much about it. He is a person that can show diversity and dares to go where others don't. It is refreshing to see a gay themed film deal with more that the sexuality of its characters and this may be a good lesson for all of us. Too often we are stereotyped because of whom we with rather than who we are.