Neds (2010)

94% of critics liked it
(31 reviews)
70% of users liked it
(2,426 ratings)

A young man discovers how hard it can be to live down the reputation your family sets for you in this powerful drama. It's 1972, and John McGill (Gregg Forrest) has just completed grade school in Glasgow. John received excellent marks and has high hopes for middle school. However, his older brother… More A young man discovers how hard it can be to live down the reputation your family sets for you in this powerful drama. It's 1972, and John McGill (Gregg Forrest) has just completed grade school in Glasgow. John received excellent marks and has high hopes for middle school. However, his older brother Benny (Joe Szula) is well remembered at the school as a troublemaker and the leader of a youth gang, so John finds his teachers have low expectations of him, and offer him few opportunities to prove them wrong. When John is rejected by one of his new friends, Julian (Martin Bell), because his mother believes John is beneath their station, he finds some much needed respect in the company of Fergie (John Joe Hay), a gang leader who knows of Benny's fearsome reputation. Within two years, John (now played by Conor McCarron) has transformed himself into a "NED" -- "non-educated delinquent" in the school system's lingo -- and has exceeded his teachers' worst expectations of him. John has become enough of a thug to even put fear in the heart of his father, an unstable alcoholic with a propensity for violence. NEDS was written and directed by actor turned filmmaker Peter Mullan, who also plays John's father. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 2 hr. 4 min.
Directed By: Peter Mullan
Written By: Peter Mullan
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

On DVD: Aug 23, 2011
Studio: Tribeca Films

Critic Reviews

Tom Long, Detroit News
The casting is good throughout, but McCarron makes the movie.
Jeannette Catsoulis, NPR
A stringent street psychodrama in which brutality is an infection and every male is a carrier.
Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times
First-timer McCarron is never less than convincing as a baby-faced brute who can elicit a stranger's sympathy as easily as he can inflict devastating comeuppance.
Sarah Boslaugh, Playback:stl
Very little in NEDS is predictable and the film is full of small details which feel exactly right...
Mayer Nissim, Digital Spy
There's a sense of inevitability about things, certainly, but it seems less written in the stars than unhappily scratched onto the kerb with a flicknife by John himself.
Ed Whitfield, The Ooh Tray
... Despite its bold efforts to the contrary, it ultimately becomes a dehumanising experience and apology for self-ruination.
Ron Wilkinson, Monsters and Critics
Kudos to Peter Mullan for this fine bit of history and excellent social commentary.
Chris Barsanti, PopMatters
...echoes other classics of roiling childhood violence.
Chris Cabin, Slant Magazine
Neds opens with the sort of celebratory moment that makes you think for a moment that things might be all right.
Joseph Proimakis, Movies for the Masses
full review at Movies for the Masses
Shaun Munro, What Culture
Mullan is smart enough not to close his subject off; many questions remain, and true to the nature of social mobility, little is ever solved quickly.
Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall
While it's beautifully shot in period style and features terrific performances from the largely non-professional cast, this film struggles to get us involved simply because there isn't much we can grab hold of.
Philip French, Guardian [UK]
This angry film is a forceful slice of life, clearly indebted to the realism of Ken Loach, in whose My Name Is Joe Mullan starred, and to whose Kes it nods.
Henry Fitzherbert, Daily Express
I's darkly humorous and strongly atmospheric but not especially surprising, a misjudged hallucinatory encounter with Jesus notwithstanding.
Alistair Harkness, Scotsman
A dark, evocative, hard-hitting piece of film-making leavened by flashes of sly wit, a great eye for period detail and a sound ear for authentic dialogue.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
It's arguably too long and there's a touch of self-mythologising but with compelling flashes of rage and nauseous black comedy, and some brilliant and bizarre images...
David Edwards, Daily Mirror [UK]
A slathering, rabid beast of a movie, Neds is a hellish trip through 70s Glasgow as seen through the eyes of a teenage ne'er-do-well.
Anthony Quinn, Independent
It's an oddity in his work that he lures us into grittily realistic drama only to dilute its potency with outlandish non-realistic imagery. The humanity and seriousness of his film-making, however, have made him an unignorable force for good.

Read all 18 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Joseph M

A brilliant portrayal on life growing up in 1970's Glasgow. A terrifying Brutal film about a young boy(John McGill) growing up in a rough area of Glasgow and turning from a Grade A swat to a Non Educated Dlyenquit (Hence the name "NEDS" The Cinematography is Beautiful,… More
A brilliant portrayal on life growing up in 1970's Glasgow. A terrifying Brutal film about a young boy(John McGill) growing up in a rough area of Glasgow and turning from a Grade A swat to a Non Educated Dlyenquit (Hence the name "NEDS" The Cinematography is Beautiful, the directing is superb but the acting is where it shine above the rest of recent British Gangster Film's especially from the unknown Connor Mcarren, who carries the film entirely. Neds is finally a Gangster Film Britian can be proud of since "This is England"
Anthony L

Peter Mullan does Ken Loach with a hint of directional influence from Kubrick and Peckinpah. Sounds good doesn't it, well luckily it is. Nick Love and the people responsible for the Kidulthood films and their ilk please take note, I would even suggest that this is better than… More
Peter Mullan does Ken Loach with a hint of directional influence from Kubrick and Peckinpah. Sounds good doesn't it, well luckily it is. Nick Love and the people responsible for the Kidulthood films and their ilk please take note, I would even suggest that this is better than Made in England in many respects. It is bound to resemble Made in England/Made in Britain/Scum among others but it seems a little less affectionate, less attached. Don't get me wrong, Scum isn't a love story but the phrase 'I'm the daddy now' has been uttered more than once since its release. At times, I was reminded more of films such as Taxi Driver and Kes, but I digress. Mullan really does show the pointlessness and also the repetitive cycle of violence between estates and he does so in his own no nonsense style, and yet, he also goes completely nuts with it too. At times you wonder if you're watching the same film as it gets pretty surreal at times but it is all the better for it. I thought the end scene was awesome, a perfect finish to a wayward journey, totally original but with rich influence, please don't leave it so long between films Mr. Mullan!
Mark W

Following up the quality of "The Magdalene Sisters" was always going to be difficult for writer/director Peter Mullan and although he achieves a similiar hard-hitting authenticity with "Neds", he fails to deliver a complete, satisfactory retelling of youthful… More
Following up the quality of "The Magdalene Sisters" was always going to be difficult for writer/director Peter Mullan and although he achieves a similiar hard-hitting authenticity with "Neds", he fails to deliver a complete, satisfactory retelling of youthful gang culture. Glasgow 1973; the streets are filled with knife-wielding thugs. Caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place is aspiring teenager John McGill (Conor McCarron). He's ambitious and bright, but held back by an alcoholic father at home and an older brother whose terrifying legend shadows his every step. Social mores and peer pressure turn the young McGill feral, his brooding, bubbling anger rushing to the surface in an orgy of bloody violence. Mullan knows the time, the people and the city very well, which undoubtedly comes across with his choice of music, his eye for the style of the 70's and brilliant use of Glasgow locations. He also assembles an impressive cast of young, unknown Scottish actors who deliver natural dialogue and excellent performances. I could identify with the characters, their behaviour and the politics of gang culture. This is a portrait of a very real problem that still exists in Glasgow today but despite the realism and attention to detail, Mullan makes the same mistake he did with "Orphans" and injects it with surreal moments, that don't contribute anything positively to the story and only serve as a realisation that he has an egotistical dellusion of his own artistic merit. The film has a lot going for it in terms of it's astute and accurate portrayal of these times, however, it's ruined by the unsure progression of the main character and as a result, the film ends rather ridiculously, not really knowing how to end. Mullan's attempt at profundity just falls flat but as a portrayal of Glasgow gang culture it's very observant and accurate. It's just a shame that the ending reeked of desperation.
Ed Fucking H

A really well made Scottish film about youth gang violence in a 1970's Glasgow community. The film centres around an extremely bright, but bullied boy who comes from a home of alcoholism and violence. It is due to this background that he eventually succumbs to the youth gangs of… More
A really well made Scottish film about youth gang violence in a 1970's Glasgow community. The film centres around an extremely bright, but bullied boy who comes from a home of alcoholism and violence. It is due to this background that he eventually succumbs to the youth gangs of his environment. The performances are exceptional and it is obvious that Peter Mullan is an exceptional director. That being said this film is a little rough around the edges. It never seemed to figure out if it was trying to be a gritty youth oriented urban drama ala Alan Clarke's Scum or Made in Britain or a more artisitc, visually based film. The balance between the two was intresting, but the teeter toddering between these two aesthetics did hold it back for me. For example that jesus hallucination scene (although arguably one of the best and most important in the film) ended up feeling out of place when compared with some of the grittier scenes. As did the scene where the main character duct tapes two knifes to his hands and takes on an entire gang singlehandedly, when considered against the more artful and metaphorical scenes in the film. Also I thought the transition of the main character from a model student to a street thug felt rushed and a tad unbelievable. That being said this is a very powerful and engaging film. It is angry, direct and upsetting. While not quite as much so as I think it could have been, I would still recommend this film to people who go for this sort of thing and I do think it was one of the better efforts of 2010. Recommended.
ernest e

Do we need another depressed messed up glasgow kids movie? No we dont. I regret having gone te see it due to high RT rating. It was well made with few technical oversights and on its own it is not a bad movie. But too much time and energy has been poored into something that needs to… More
Do we need another depressed messed up glasgow kids movie? No we dont. I regret having gone te see it due to high RT rating. It was well made with few technical oversights and on its own it is not a bad movie. But too much time and energy has been poored into something that needs to be left behind. Go and make a movie about the improvements and developments instead of moaning bout the shit of the 70's. This rating is very personal because someone interested in depression and destruction will love this movie.