I was sat at home one evening thinking “I don’t want to sit here and watch a movie in a room on my own”. That just felt a bit lame, so I went to my local chain of cinemas specialising in independent film and decided to give this film a go in the hope of some form of community. I went in and took my seat, waiting for this monsoon of other viewers to come in, hopefully without their loud smelly snacks, just so I could have a morsel of humanity… Nobody else came in. So there I was, sitting there and watching a movie in a room on my own. Lame. The rest of SW19 letting down the great leader Boris. When you’re all trialled for treason, I’ll be sat in the back row watching, while eating my quiet non-disruptive snack. Who will be laughing then?

So, the movie? Well, first of all, don’t get it mixed up with the Steve Carrell “No, Kelly Clarkson” movie. This film is totally different. It’s written/directed/acted by Radha Black and is semi-autobiographical. Radha is about to be forty and having won an award for thirty play writes under thirty, her career seems to be stalling. She’s lonely, teaches drama at the local school and she’s trying to get her new play she’s written into theatres, although the white theatre owner wants it to be more “universal”. It’s essentially a gentrification of a play about gentrification. In between this, Radha feels she needs to express herself more, so decides to start doing rap, something you don’t see 40 year old women do. It’s an attempt to reinvent the forty year old version of herself. It’s not really an A Star Is Born as it’s much more grounded.

I really enjoyed the style of the film. The black and white showing how she struggles to express herself as she can’t breakout. She’s down and fearful as a result of her mother’s recent death. There are a few moments sprinkled in with colour, however these are few and far between making them vivid, especially with the light colour schemes used in these moments. It almost becomes a documentary when she starts interviewing people in the street. There is a fun upbeat jazz soundtrack as well, and these things all together stylistically reminded me a lot of Spike Lee’s debut She’s Gotta Have It with it’s grainy film textures and energy.

The acting was good all around. I was totally immersed. Radha Black provided some real fun and energy to what could’ve been a potentially stale role. She was supported all around by interesting supporting characters, all of whom totally buy into this project.

Tonally, it’s a feel good film. You can feel it. It’s about a woman finding her voice and overcoming this mid-life crisis and the issues she’s facing. This is despite the big themes in the film being grief, gentrification and loneliness. It might be a tad predictable in places, but that didn’t bother me as the characters were all well made. My biggest gripe was that it was a bit slow and repetitive in the second half. It could’ve shaved off 15 minutes and we wouldn’t have lost anything. However, this didn’t dent my overall enjoyment too much.

Summary

FYOV provides a real raw energy. Understated and not likely to be on the radar, it’s worth seeking out for a fine film about finding your voice and believing in yourself from a fresh perspective. [Grade: B]

Having had a limited cinema run (It might still be showing, I’m not sure), FYOV is out on Netflix now.