Awaydays [DVD]

Set against the Birkenhead docklands in 1979, Awaydays is the story of a group of disaffected young Merseysiders living in a working-class environment at the beginning of Margaret Thatcher's Prime Ministerial reign over Britain. The North of England in the late Seventies was, not a particularly nice place to be it was as an incredibly dark, violent place with the closure of indigenous industries, the rise of heroin and football violence. Liverpool Football team were supreme however and were riding the crest of a wave al over the UK and Europe, and there Legion of Fans followed, hence "Awaydays". The natural successors to the Mods who came before "The "Casuals" as they became known adopted the wearing of expensive European sports gear. Sports gear that they had stolen from all over Europe. The football hooligans here are represented in their regulation wedge haircuts, Peter Storm cagoules and Adidas Forest Hills attention to detail is very good and convincing. Awaydays also attempts to draw in cultural connections between music and football; both of which adhered to strict rituals, fashions and codes of behaviour. The football hooligans are represented in their regulation wedge haircuts, Peter Storm cagoules and Adidas Forest Hills attention to detail is very good and convincing. But the Music is Wrong, It's right for the City but wrong for the Hooligans. The film focuses on Post Punk Echo and the Bunnymen. Joy Divison. Gang of Four. This was the Music of the City, but the favoured Music of the hooligan was "Disco" and "Jazz Funk".

The core of the story concerns the relationship between art school student and emergent hooligan Carty a bright young man suffering from the recent loss of his mother and an adolescent disillusionment in urban life and Elvis, a charismatic if troubled member of The Pack. Both share a passion and love for all things post-punk.
Carty's wish to be accepted in society manifests itself with a yearning to be a part of a crew of football hooligans (The Pack). They're a bunch of guys of similar age to Carty, all kitted out in the same Adidas trainers and tracksuit tops and sporting wedge haircuts that make them appear more like bunch of petty pretty boys rather than hooligans. Eager to gain a place alongside The Pack on the terraces, Carty befriends Elvis (one of The Pack's front men) who lives alone in a house where all kinds of drink and drug debauchery takes place. Carty also adopts the same clothing in the hope of being noticed and asked to join the crew. But it's not as easy as that, The Pack are a hostile bunch and Carty has to prove his worth, before he can be classed as one of the boys. Tagging along with Elvis at an away game, Carty puts himself on the frontline and doesn't disappoint in showing his metal when The Pack take down a rival crew. Carty becomes the toast of the crew and is determined to take the bull by the horns and enjoy life, indulging in the rock and roll nature of his new lifestyle. But Carty's life of pleasure can't last for long and he soon begins to alienate both his family, and new friend Elvis, who grows jealous of Carty's popularity within The Pack and with the local girls. Relationships implode as Elvis starts to hate him self for his sexual deviations and the realisation he can never have his desire is seduced by the dark world of heroin. Carty's realises that life with the Pack isn't as sweet as it first seemed.

In Fact The whole of the Pack have this undercurrent of Homo attraction bromance thing going on. The intermittent scenes of violence are visceral and tough to watch in their own right, but at the same time they're not so horrific and explicit that they become unwatchable. Combining awayday punch-ups with bedsit brooding, the tortured relationship between the lads is generally lifeless. The film creates an atmosphere of sheer gloom and desperation as if a layer of dust and grime lies over the camera lens and the evocative sense of hoplessness of social mobility is overwhelming.

Better than you average hooligan Film

If the late seventies into the early eighties were part of your (misspent) youth, then Awaydays will transport you right back there with its rites of passage tale set in 1979.

Carty (Nicky Bell) is tired of watching Tranmere Rovers in the company of his Dad and the other Steady-Eddies at Prenton Park, and decides that getting amongst the ranks of "The Pack" - a notorious hooligan element that follow Rovers home and away, will bring the necessary excitement to his life that he craves. At the same point, Elvis (brilliantly played by Liam Boyle) - a key member of "The Pack" is looking for a way out of his existence, and yearns for a more stable life than the mixed up world of drugs, violence, and loneliness he currently dwells in. Each wants what the other has, but both also have common ground by way of the team they support, and their love of the music and club scene that was on offer just over the water in Liverpool.

Awaydays takes you along on the journey that these two very different people embark on, as they attempt to find what they're looking for, and invariably both find that you should be careful what you wish for.

The film is set to a superb soundtrack of classic songs from the period (Echo And The Bunnymen, Joy Division, The Cure, Wire, and OMD to name check a few, and the opening sequence which is set to "Young Savage" by Ultravox! along with the one of the fight scenes set to the Magazine track "The Light Pours Out Of Me" are two of the high points of the film.
The is also a cameo appearance from Wirral band - The Rascals, who play the part of an embryonic Echo And The Bunnymen playing a gig in Eric's club on Mathew Street.

If you're looking for a stereotypical brain-in-neutral football hooligan film then you may well be disappointed, but if a story set to the background of your youth gets you interested then you're in for a treat.

Awaydays on DVD faithfully converts the story played out in the cult novel to the screen, and you could do a lot worse that getting hold of a copy of the soundtrack to go along with it.

This film is set amongst working class footy hooliganism set in the late 70s but the film has a crafty eye for character building, trouble is that its all a bit boring. There are good scenes here but the plodding pace and poor me , poor me crys of desperation. Before long i was drifting in and out, not very good.