1999 Directed by Stephen Hopkins, Bob Hoskins …
Nine short stories based on the true experiences of London Underground passengers: "Mr. Cool" (Amy Jenkins, dir.); "Horny" (Stephen Hopkins); "Grasshopper" (Menhaj Huda); "My Father the Liar" (Bob Hoskins); "Bone" (Ewan McGregor); "Mouth" (Armando Iannucci); "A Bird in the Hand" (Jude Law); "Rosebud" (Gaby Dellal); "Steal Away" (Charles McDougall)
Tom Bell Jim Carter Carmen Ejogo Leonie Elliott Leah Fitzgerald Jason Flemyng Dexter Fletcher Frank Harper Kelly Macdonald Peter McNamara Hans Matheson Alan Miller Daniela Nardini Lee Ross Liz Smith Nicolas Tennant Denise Van Outen Don Warrington Rachel Weisz Ray Winstone Stephen Taylor Alicya Eyo Roger Griffiths Dele Johnson Preeya Kalidas Mazhar Munir Ray Panthaki Marcia Rose Ashish Raja Show All…
Stephen Hopkins Bob Hoskins Ewan McGregor Jude Law Menhaj Huda Armando Iannucci Charles McDougall Gaby Dellal Amy Jenkins
Stephen Hopkins Paul Fraser Armando Iannucci Gaby Dellal Amy Jenkins Nick Perry Mark Greig Ed Allen II Atalanta Goulandris Harsha Patel
Danny Hambrook Lionel Selwyn Simon Hayes Julie Ankerson Jim Greenhorn John Fewell Stuart Wilson Jens Christensen
Viagem Urbana, Historias del metro, Приказки от метрото, Истории подземки, 地铁故事, Opowieści z metra
Sweden
Stockholm International Film Festival
UK
Sweden
UK
Tube Tales is another film I have on my to-do list.
Well, I can say that this doesn’t make me dizzy but I really like this British proposal, and I love anthologies and all the stories have in common that the protagonists are passengers who use the tube, probably the most representative means of transport of the lower-middle class in the UK.
Next, I will give my brief opinion about each one of them:
Mr. Cool (Directed by Amy Jenkins)
A small love story with touches of comedy about the importance of valuing someone for the humility they possess rather than for their image. This is the shortest story of all and serves as an introduction so there is not…
Could you get more 90s than Tube Tales? The whole thing reeks of Cool Britannia - an anthology of short films, several directed by 'hot young' actors like Jude Law and Ewan McGregor, all related to London Underground and boasting a plethora of 90s names in the bustling cast. Made by Sky, this would be aired repeatedly at the turn of the century, but it must be twenty years since I last saw it. Unsurprisingly, given its heavy ratio, I could remember so much of the stories.
Mr Cool, directed by Amy Jenkins.
Jenkins was best known for creating the hip TV series This Life (more on that later). It stars Dexter Fletcher, then best known for Lock Stock, Press…
The first story, with Denise Van Outen, Tom Bell and Liz Smith sets the low tone for what's to come in this anthology film. So much potential is wasted (not to mention a cracking cast) in what could have been a comedy classic, with a bit of thought and originality.
Film #24 of the "September 2015 Scavenger Hunt" Challenge!
#4 A subterranean film! (A Film set underground)
letterboxd.com/pleinsoleil/list/scavenger-hunt-september-2015/
What an odd little anthology this is. Tube Tales tells 8 short stories about the London Underground. Anthologies never really work because it flips across genres, styles, and characters and there's inevitably a lot of crap. This... was no exception. However shout out to Ewan McGregor for doing a great job.
Mr. Cool - Amy Jenkins - Kelly MacDonald gets in a date-rapey situation (but its the 90s so its hilarious) and winds up outsmarting her captor. It did a lot with the 4 minutes - I'll give it that.
Horny - Stephen Hopkins - It's a fast paced meditation on... perving…
As you'd expect with an anthology film, this is a bit of a mixed bag. There's some great time-capsule stuff here re: late nineties London fashion, culture, mindsets, and even actors.
The first three shorts (Mr Cool, Horny, and Grasshopper) did absolutely nothing for me, but things really picked up with the Bob Hoskins directed short, My Father the Liar. Ray Winstone is absolutely magnetic in it. While perhaps my favourite two are Ewan McGregor's Bone, and Jude Law's A Bird in the Hand. Watched this for the Rachel Weisz factor and she did not disappoint, although, the short (Rosebud) doesn't really focus on her.
I appreciated Tube Tales more in concept more than I enjoyed as a film. There's some great stuff here but those first three shorts really did sour things up top.
Whilst this has probably aged like a piece of cheese under the radiator, the nostagia hits hard.
2/9 were any good. 3/9 generously
Mr Cool: no
Horny: almost? It wants to be female empowerment but we ogle her from the pervert’s perspective too much. Way too male-gazy
Grasshopper: I liked it
My father the liar: I liked this little look into this father and son’s relationship. Or lack of one
Bone: cute enough, but in the context of the whole anthology felt like it just added to the male centric viewpoint
Mouth: no
A bird in the hand: no
Rosebud: the fuck?
Steal away: whoever wrote this didn’t get the memo that it was supposed to be based on people’s real life tube experiences. Unless getting on a train bound for the afterlife is a common experience in London. Also no, it’s bad
There are a lot of 'feature-length' films that are compiled with short films - and they all end up the same way. A 90 minute amalgamation of genre, darting from crime to comedy to drama to whatever else. I usually find these films too disjointed, and although each short film is set in the same place, it is no exception.
There's a fantastic cast of British actors and directors, so much so that I was surprised that I had never heard of the film before - especially as I am a huge fan of short films. The films are all based upon real tube experiences, but some of the experiences certainly didn't make engaging stories.
The mix of genre can…
