IN THE CITY //Hobo with a Shotgun
"you can't solve the worlds problems with a shotgun" - Abby "it's all I know" - Hobo
Filmed in the city I grew up outside of, co-starring a girl whose sister I went to school with, Hobo with a Shotgun is shocking, bloody and brilliant. The premise is bizarre. A distopia full of menacing ruffians, confused and scared civilians, and a disturbed and vile mob boss run wild through the once hopeful town. Enter Hobo. He comes in on the train like any other hobo. He has dreams of purchasing a lawn mower and starting his own business with a less than standard slogan - you grow it, we cut it. Personally I thought ‘you grow it, we mow it’ was better. Anyway…disgusted, appalled and enrage by the random acts of pure violence, Hobo turns to a life of fighting crime. Everyone and everything in this town is corrupt, including the police, but thankfully our Hobo encounters a beautiful and feisty prostitute, Abby with whom a friendship forms. With each others help they take down the ruthless mobster, and his unmerry men.
That is essentially the plot. I actually secretly enjoyed this film, and I say secretly cos it was really violent, and gross and maybe I shouldn’t have. BUT it was comic book violent and bloody. Heads exploding, blood spurting when you know fine and rightly blood doesn’t do that, and it was constant. It was part of the film. I don’t mind violence and blood if its for a reason, like if it’s part of the plot, which in this case it was, and the film wouldn’t have been as affective if it hadn’t been so over the top. The point was to make you cringe, to make you feel ill about the state the town had come to. It was also pretty funny. The scripting was clever, and a lot of the lines were laugh out loud, yea lol, funny. Which balanced everything, made it less grim.
Abby, played by Molly Dunsworth gave a brilliant performance. I’ve seen her in a ton of plays, and she nailed this. She did say ‘aboot’ tho at one point which only Christine and I laughed at. But yes, I was really proud of Molly, she’s worked so hard, and she was completely brilliant.
Grindhouse is NOT one of my favourite genres of film, after reading some other reviews apparently it was dead on, and true to the genre. So, good. But yea, if you are faint of heart, don’t enjoy bloody violence or terrible language, I would advise against seeing it. I did enjoy it, I’m glad I went to go see it. I do feel bad for Christine who turned to me afterwards and said
’You ruined my life’
IN THE CITY is a weekly article written by
Leah Gallant that looks at city life, culture,
music and events in Belfast.
Tags: Belfast, IN THE CITY
Images
Caption: HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN
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Comments
That’s a good point to make about using discretion and what you fill your mind with. Was only thinking that yesterday on the way home from work.
By Cathy Mowbray. Posted on Thursday 21st Apr 2011 at 20:12
editors note - now friends, i don’t want anyone giving me heck for being a Christian and seeing this film. i’m an adult, i use discretion, i’m good about what i put in my mind. Jesus still loves me. just sayin’.
By Leah Gallant. Posted on Wednesday 13th Apr 2011 at 18:37