Tube Tales **½ (1999, Jason Flemyng, Kelly Macdonald, Denise Van Outen, Tom Bell, Hans Matheson, Carmen Ejogo, Dexter Fletcher, Jim Carter, Sean Pertwee, Liz Smith, Ray Winstone, Rachel Weisz) – Classic Movie Review 4732

Nine short films set on the London Underground directed by and starring the hottest in British talent of 1999. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

In Mr Cool, Jason Flemyng desperately tries to impress his dream woman, Kelly Macdonald. Horny sees Denise Van Outen turning the tables on a groping lecher, Tom Bell. In Steal Away, young couple Hans Matheson and Carmen Ejogo think they have got away with a briefcase full of money – but have they?

The stories vary from the farcical to the fanciful, from the meaningful to the mysterious. But the problem with such compendium or ‘portmanteau’ movies is that just as you have got interested in one story it stops and another starts, and then it all just ends, leaving you feeling unsatisfied.

However, with Ewan McGregor and Jude Law making their director debuts, it is all imaginatively filmed and expertly acted. Best of all, unlimited access to the London Tube system gives the film-makers an eagerly-grabbed chance to give a genuine, and often eerie impression of the odd, shadowy life down in the tunnels and up on empty platforms.

The other directors are Gaby Dellal, Stephen Hopkins, Charles McDougall, Amy Jenkins, Armando Iannucci, Bob Hoskins and Menhaj Huda.

it also stars Dexter Fletcher, Jim Carter, Sean Pertwee, Liz Smith, Ray Winstone, Rachel Weisz, Nicholas Tennant and Don Warrington.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4732

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