STARS: CHARLIE HARDWICK, TIM HEALY, ROY HUDD, KEVIN WHATELY, CHRIS BEATTIE, GREG MCCLANE

Purely Belter follows the adventures of two young Newcastle lads who want nothing more in the world than season tickets to their beloved Newcastle United Football Club. It is not only their ticket to their passion, it is, in their minds, their ticket to respect.

Gerry is the ‘brains’ of the operation. He should be in school but would prefer to hang with his friend Sewell all day. Together, the two of them have perfected the art of doing bugger all. Neither has any money and need a scheme to raise enough money for their tickets. Unfortunately, neither Gerry nor Sewell are very good at anything and have little choice but to try a series of stupid and often illegal methods to raise the cash.

Along the way, we learn about the often harsh lives and bleak futures of the boys who live in this working class area of England. Neither boy lives with their father and Gerry’s is an abusive drunk who steals the hard (but not necessarily honestly) earned ticket fund. Sewell has been abandoned by his real parents and lives with his grandfather whom he refers to as ‘Dad’.

Purely Belter walks a fine line between comedy and tragedy. There are some genuinely funny moments, however there are just as many heartbreaking moments.

The film shows how many of these people are hanging onto their lives by a thread meaing that the humour in the film is very bleak. Moments which would normally be considered tragic are played for laughs and some of the moments deemed to be funny in the film don’t always appear to be. No doubt some of the humour in the film requires an insiders perspective, however, the film does occasionally miss the mark.

A couple of times the direction is too obvious in an attempt to hammer home the point of a joke but overall it is a film that succeeds in walking that fine line.

THE EXTRAS

Theatrical Trailer

Cast and Crew: Standard fare biographies on the main actors, producer and director.

Production notes: Interesting notes on the directors involvement and the book the movie was based on. In particular the different ending in the film from the book to add a lighter tone.

B-Roll: A seemingly random collection of behind the scenes footage

Geordie Slang: A hilarious guide to the slang that had me confused and wishing for subtitles, I recommend viewing this before watching the movie

CONCLUSION

This is an off the wall comedy which may not leave you laughing at the end but is ultimately an entertaining film that achieves what it sets out to do - finding the humour amidst their bleak lives.