Common People ** (2013, Sam Kelly, Diana Payan) – Movie Review

Joint directors Kerry Skinner and Stewart Alexander’s indie ensemble project weaves together six stories and 30 characters for a dramatic and humorous panorama of romance, crisis and adventure on Tooting Common, South London. Common People is a nice little film, a bit hesitant and amateurish, but still heartfelt, amusing and poignant. They get a lot of mileage out of filming on the common, it’s a very atmospheric and fascinating location. It’s a quirky people watching movie, and Tooting Common’s where you can watch a lot of quirky people.

Actor Stewart Alexander has started with a good, strong, solid idea for his screenplay, and some of his situations, characters and lines admirable, but his inexperience shows in some of the writing. It’s still quite good for a first screenplay, though.

The film won the Indie Spirit Award at ReelHeART International Film Festival in 2014 and comedy treasure Sam Kelly, playing Derrick, won the Best Actor award. That is very fitting. He is the most experienced actor in the film, and gives easily the best performance by a long way, though Diana Payan is also excellent as his wife Pam. They’re an old retired couple regularly taking comfort from a park bench on the common. Kelly and Payan make them funny and compelling.

Josh Herdman, Jeff Mash, Sidney Cole and Alec Utgoff also appear.

Sam Kelly died 0n June 14 2014 of cancer, aged 70. He was the illiterate crook ‘Bunny’ Warren in Porridge and Captain Hans Geering in ‘Allo ‘Allo! In his next and last film he was Theatre Actor in Mr Turner (2014).

© Derek Winnert 2014 Movie Review

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