Small Faces

Gillies MacKinnon, UK 1995, 108 minutes

Gillies and Billy MacKinnon's tale of coming of age in 1968 Glasgow is pure delight. Lex is thirteen, young, smart and artistic. It's a time of unrest, of tales of "razor gangs" terrorising neighbourhoods and it's a time when Lex (Iain Robertson) has to make a decision.

His two brothers are following very different paths. Alan (Joseph MacFadden) is at art school while Bobby (J S Duffy) is one of the hard men in the `The Glen', a gang fronted by mad, bad, but decidedly charismatic hard man Charlie Sloan (Garry Sweeney). They've pledged war on Malky Johnson's (Trainspotting's Kevin McKidd) rival gang, `The Tongs'. When Lex accidentally shoots Malky in the face with an air gun the entire Maclean family get drawn into the gang life. Add to this Glaswegian Godfather the romantic interest provided by Joanne (Laura Fraser) and Lex's alter-ego in the form of Malky's brother Gorbals (Mark McConnochie), and a fun time is to be had by all.

What makes this film notable is the care taken by the MacKinnons. Unlike other pet projects (Levinson's Toys, for instance, or Forsyth's Being Human) Small Faces flourishes under their nurture with a range of excellent, filled characters, filmed in an unpretentious, believable way. Told from Lex's point of view and reminiscent of all the best bits from the CFF films, this is pure magic. Pure childhood.

"Gilliles MacKinnon's superb third feature... can proudly rank alongside recent Glasgow Film Fund stablemate Trainspotting... Outstandingly Good ****" - Empire

Review by Scott Keir
Taken from EUFS Programme 1996-97