The Business
Starring: Danny Dyer, Tamer Hassan, Geoff Bell, Georgina Chapman, Camille Coduri, Linda Henry, Roland Manookian, Arturo Venegas
Directed by: Nick Love

The Business Reviewed by Paul Heath

And so, The Business arrives on DVD a few months after it's relatively good run at the UK box-office. The film took just over £1 million, which is actually pretty good considering its very limited run, and I'm sure, if it was given the chance, would have done a lot more if it had run for a little longer. The film got quite good word of mouth, not least from myself, and I found myself recommending the film for weeks afterwards. On the home format, I think it will find it's audience.

I'll recap the story for those not familiar with the flick. London boy Frankie (Danny Dyer) is asked to deliver a 'box of biscuits' to a dude named 'The Playboy over in Marbella, Spain. When he arrives there and meets said Playboy, aka Charlie (played superbly by Tamer Hussan), he finds himself absorbed into the lifestyle of the Costa Del Crime in its heyday, the Thatcher era, the mid-1980's. There, he also meets Charlie's business partner, Sammy, a psycho-criminal with the stunning bread knife (sorry, the cockney rhyming slang's getting to me - I mean wife), who has seemingly wants to get her claws into Frankie.

As you can probably tell, I was a big fan of the film upon its original release. Sure, it's nothing that we haven't seen before, but we're treated to some wonderful cinematography, brilliant performances from the lead actors, and some great music and culture from the eighties.

Of course, I was erm, quite young back in 1983, where the film kicks off, but the film is littered with things that will take you back and trigger your memory of those days, if you were around. The Rubik's Cube, Pac Man, Sergio Tacchini track suits, old Adidas trainers, and of course the music.

The film opens with Duran Duran's 'Planet Earth'. "Only came outside to watch the nightfall with the rain, I heard you making patterns rhyme, Like some new romantic looking for the TV sound, You’ll see I’m right some other time." We join the two main characters with this playing, Frankie and Charlie as they are at their lowest, raiding a Spanish drug den in a dingy area of Gibraltar. As with many scenes in the film, the music fits the setting, and there's more to come, from the likes of The Buggles, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, The Cult, Blondie, Simple Minds, Adam and the Ants, and even David Bowie. Possibly one of the best movie soundtracks of the year, and I urge fans of the music to go see this for that alone as you'll not see better use of the music in any film from at least the last five years. It's almost Scorsese like, or even Tarantino with director Nick Love choosing each track meticulously to fit each wonderful scene.

Another thing to compare with Scorsese is the way that film has been put together. Like Goodfellas, we have Frankie narrating the movie, and there are the other Scorsese-isms - the freeze frames, the obvious subject matter and the psychotic character in the form of Geoff Bell's mad-ass bad-ass Sammy. There's also the glamourous girl that everyone wants, not least Frankie, Sammie's wife Carly, who is played by the lovely Georgina Chapman. Essential to the plot, and wonderfully executed by Chapman.

Danny Dyer, who, in my eyes is one of the UK's best young actors reunites with Love for their third collaboration (after Goodnight Charlie Bright and The Football Factory). This is easily his best film to date, and he even excels more than in the 1999 clubbing movie Human Traffic, another personal favourite of mine. Tamer Hussain and Geoff Bell, two other Love regulars, also round out the superb cast. As I said in my theatrical review of the movie, the performance of Tamer Hussan, and the friendship he forms with Frankie, is essential to this movie working. I love the scene in the quarry where the three main actors are testing bullet proof vests too, one of the movie's funniest scenes, and turning plots as you get to see just how bad-ass Sammy is.

The look of the film is mind-blowing. Shot on HD rather than film really capture the feel of the time. It's very Miami Vice like, and in the commentary on the DVD, Love tells all about how they got the look in various scenes. The blues are blue, deep blue , the reds are bright red, and they contrast wonderfully, particularly at the start of the movie, and the picture quality on the DVD format is mind-blowing.

In all, The Business is one of my favourite films of last year. I wasn't particular enamored with the ending, but there's an alternative on the disc if you prefer (I didn't). It's a little sweary, and violent, but it's an enjoyable experience that will suit the home format, and will no doubt will deservedly do better than it had the chance to do in theaters.

Onto the extras. Or the adid-extras as it's called on the disc. We have a couple of trailers for other releases which play as the disc loads. The menu's are animated with a couple of the brighter scenes from the movie too.

The first extra is the 'Making Of', which we find on most releases these days. You will not, guaranteed, see a more entertaining, though brief, mini-making of on any disc this year. If you do not like the word F*ck, or C*nt, then steer well clear. Just bear in mind that the 'C' word is sometimes used in effection by some of us Brits. The featurette takes us through the shooting of the movie in Spain - we get info on where the costumes were bought for the flick - eBay - and how much they cost, the production design of making 2004 Spain look like 1983 Spain and the sympathic, conservative direction of Nick Love. There's also a funny as hell segment where Tamer Hussain and Geoff Bell are delivering an interview to camera, when Mr. Dyer walks into frame with a piece of his equipment dangling out. It sums up the whole mood of the set.

Then we have a couple of deleted scenes, which are quite entertaining, but you can see why they were taken out. The film is a tight 90 minutes, and apparently the first cut was over two and a half hours.

There are also a couple of galleries which house production stills (which I find pointless), and a little more interesting production design stills. There are also cast and crew biographies and the theatrical trailer, who presents the movie as little more silly than it actually is.

The best extra on the DVD is Nick Love and Danny Dyer's feature commentary. Now, this is obviously a couple of lads who have had a good history in the business together, and their camaraderie is apparent with Love asking about Dyer's family members, and how they are etc. etc. There's not a lot of technical info on offer here, as Love admits, but he does delve into some scenes and extract some interesting info - like how they managed to get some of the more expensive looking shots for cheap, and how he got some of his inspiration, one being the obvious choice, Michael Mann. He also talks about his love of the eighties and how everything had to be perfect without exceptions. They also talk about how Dyer's grandmother loves to use the 'C' word, and how his dad broke down in tears at the end of the movie after he first saw it. It's a really entertaining commentary, and one of the first that I have actually enjoyed listening to in a long time.

We are also treated to a look at Love's next project, a very brief teaser trailer for a film named Outlaws, which is set for release in 2007.

I'm also told that there is an Easter egg, which is a swear counter. An obvious choice for a film with more swear words than any film that I have ever seen in my life. If anyone finds it, let me know!

In all, The Business DVD is a must for fans of British gangster flicks (it's one of the better ones of recent times), fans of that era (the music is electric) and indeed fans of British cinema in general. The extras are enough to compliment the flick and it's one of the more entertaining releases of recent times. Hugely enjoyable!

The Business is out on region two DVD on January 30th.

Grade: B+

Paul Heath