Well now, the last time I had this sort of reaction to a film - the last time I saw this sort of raw emotion in such a mundane setting - was back in my college days. I had just come out of David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross with a friend and when she turned to me and said, despite not a single punch having been thrown in the film, that she thought that was the most violent thing she had ever seen I simply had to agree. Like Mamet's film, Mark Fitzpatrick's The Nothing Men is a very small picture - a virtual chamber drama if the trailer and stills on the website are any indication - set in a very unglamorous location - a factory on the verge of shut down - when a sudden change to the rules of the game throws everybody into a frenzy.
As a hardened crew of factory workers struggle to see out the last two weeks before their redundancy windfalls, panic runs through the ranks with the arrival of a mysterious man sent to join them. Suddenly fearful that their drinking and gambling will be exposed by the head-office “spy” and rob them of their money, top dog Jack (Colin Friels) and the men descend into a compelling world of antagonism and brutality. The intrigue and anxious second-guessing is only enhanced when the pacifist of the group, Wesley (Martin Dingle Wall), befriends the seemingly normal outsider, David (David Field). When Wesley discovers David is hiding a much darker secret, however, the seeds are planted for an explosive finale that seals the fate of The Nothing Men.
Check the trailer below the break.
