Late Night Shopping [DVD] [2001]

Made on a shoestring budget but with huge dedication and imagination, Late Night Shopping is the kind of independent cinema that Britain has excelled at in recent years. Based upon the lives of four young people who frequent after hours Glasgow, this is far removed from the nihilistic Trainspotting school of film making, instead offering a warm, uplifting view of urban life. On the face of it, the characters simply meet up during their dead-end, night shift jobs, to ease the boredom. Gradually, however, a bond develops that goes deeper than any of them might have suspected.

Given that most of the film takes place at night, the mood is intimate and sparse, before the characters make a literal and metaphorical journey into the light. The interplay between the four (Lance, Ashfield, Clienti and Von Wolfson) is superb and it is their relationship that carries Late Night Shopping to its heart-warming conclusion. Along the way there is some lovely humour, as well as moments of real drama. Quirky enough without ever heading down some cultist cul-de-sac, this is a must for fans of well-crafted bold cinema.

On the DVD: Late Night Shopping's disc has some real thought gone into it. There is an excellent documentary feature on the making of the movie, although the interview and on location segments do seem to simply repeat the material in less engaging form. Best of all is the commentary from director Saul Metzstein and writer Jack Lothan, who take us on a tour of the perils of making a film for comparatively little money. Their dialogue is both witty and informative and cannot disguise the pride they have in their finished product, as well they might. --Phil Udell

• Audio Description
  
• Cast and crew interviews
  
• Deleted scene
  
• Featurette
  
• On Location
  
• Trailer
  
• Tricks
  
• Director and Writer’s Commentary

DVD Technical Information:

• Video Aspect Ratio (feature): 16:9 Anamorphic
  
• Main Soundtrack: English, Dolby Digital 5.1
  
• Subtitles: English for the Hard of Hearing
  
• Disc Format: Single Sided, Dual Layer – DVD 9
  
• Feature Length: 87 mins approx.
  
• Colour PAL

An upbeat, oddball, after-hours comedy about the ups and downs of sex and shelf-stacking in the 21st century. Four friends, Sean, Vincent, Jody and Lenny find themselves at something of a dead end. Trapped in a twilight world of permanent night shift work, they hang out together at the local all night café, where their only escape from drudgery is observing Vincent’s unwavering success in pulling women. There seems little prospect of change. But then events conspire otherwise.