The Debt Collector


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Details At A Glance

General
Extras
Category Drama Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Released 1999
Running Time 105:05 minutes
RSDL/Flipper No/No
Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region 4 Director Anthony Neilson
Studio
Distributor
Film Four
Madman Entertainment
Starring Billy Connolly
Ken Stott
Francesca Annis
Iain Robertson
Annette Crosbie
Alastair Galbraith
Case TBC
RPI Rental Music Adrian Johnston

 
Video
Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English (Dolby Digital 5.1, 448 Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Original Aspect Ratio ?1.85:1
Miscellaneous
Macrovision ? Smoking Yes
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

Plot Synopsis

    There is something about British (or in this instance, more specifically Scottish) films that makes them distinctly different from the usual stuff that emanates from Hollywood. They have a certain grittiness, an air of complete believability to them that Hollywood can only hope to attain in a fit of madness. Sometimes, though, the subject matter gets just a little too close to the pale. This is one of those instances where we learn just a tad more about the collection business than perhaps we really want to know. If you have a low tolerance to violence and the f-word, then perhaps it would be wise to give this effort a miss.

    Nickie Dryden (Billy Connolly) is a debt collector - hence the title of the film. Not one of those blokes that wanders around with summonses and other assorted paperwork mind, but a real debt collector. The sort of bloke wot separates various parts of your anatomy from other parts of your anatomy, cos you owe him a fiver. Nickie is obviously pretty good at his job, as he manages to put the fear of God up most people. He also manages, seemingly without compunction, to inflict severe bodily harm upon those wot have a problem in repaying that fiver that they owe him, to the extent that he is the prime suspect in a number of unexplained murders. Detective Gary Keltie (Ken Stott) is the policeman who finally brings Nickie to justice, leaving Nickie to rot in jail for a long time (well, at least wot seems a long time).

    Jump forward to the present day, and Nickie has emerged from jail a new man: married to a journalist, a feted artist and a published writer. Things are looking good for Nickie as it seems as if he has left the thuggery of his younger days behind him. He has served his debt to society and intends to lead a new life. Well, at least he would if it were not for one slightly deranged policeman in Gary Keltie who does not believe in the concept of a man having served his debt to society and a man being given a second chance. Gary Keltie believes in making sure that Nickie Dryden never forgets that his sentence did not end when he walked out of prison but rather just began. He believes in parading in front of Nickie Dryden and his family the victims of the former life of Nickie Dryden. This he does in several ways, but most especially by disrupting a showing of Nickie's work at a local gallery, and parading victims of the crimes at the wedding of his sister-in-law, all of which is guaranteed to invoke the ire of a man such as Nickie Dryden - as is the murder of Nickie's stepson (no names given but heavily suggested to be at the hands of a certain whacko copper with a chip on his shoulder the size of the Loch Ness monster).

    Cue the other main character of the film, one Flipper (Iain Robertson), who just so happens to be another nutter - but this time one that wants nothing more than to be the next Nickie Dryden it seems. Sufficient of a nutter to terrorize people for a few pence just because he wants to, and sufficient of a nutter to murder a security man at the local swimming pool for no good reason other than he feels like it. Flipper is definitely a nutter. In a convoluted sequence of events, Flipper is given the task of inflicting bodily harm upon Gary Keltie. The only problem is that he decides that he is following "the policy" as dictated by Nickie Dryden by never actually inflicting bodily harm upon those who owe the money but rather inflicting it on four close persons to the person wot owes the money. Flipper beats the living crap out of Gary Keltie's mum, and proudly announces it to Nickie. He was perhaps a bit surprised by Nickie's reaction to the news. Cue one exceedingly off-the-rails Gary Keltie who now seeks revenge, first by raping Nickie's wife Val (Francesca Annis) then attacking Nickie, at the Edinburgh Tattoo of all places.

    As you can gather, this is a marvellously uplifting little tale of the joys of living in the festering underworld of Edinburgh. Not. There are no punches pulled here and there are few sympathies to be granted. The film makes no apologies for this at all. This is definitely tell-it-like-it-is stuff that is clearly in the vein of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, the sort of gritty true-to-life effort that leaves no doubt that this is not a Hollywood film. Populated by a plethora of characters that you really would not want to meet in a dark alley at night, this is a film that definitely makes you think about popping down the corner store to grab a packet of fags.

    Billy Connolly is one of the funniest men alive, but he is also a superb actor and this is another superb job from him. He is Nickie Dryden, he is that inside of his character, which is extremely important since he is essentially the entire focus of the film. Matching him as the nutty copper is a terrific Ken Stott and these two characters are a joy to watch. As is so usual for a British film, there is not a weak link in the cast and all nail down their roles to perfection. This is not fiction: this is the way the streets are. Stunningly directed by Anthony Neilson, this is a very powerful film that really captures the true grit of life in the nineties in the big cities of Great Britain.

    However, this is also a very violent film at times and this is not going to be to everyone's taste. It is not something that I would choose to put on for entertainment, and that is perhaps its greatest failing - we watch film for entertainment and not just for gritty realism. If you copped this one during its short theatrical release, you will want to see it again, and if you did not cop it, then it is certainly a worthwhile view if you are in the mood for some gritty realism for an evening.

Transfer Quality

Video

    There is not a whole lot wrong with the transfer here except that there is far too much aliasing to make this much more than a decent transfer.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and it is 16x9 enhanced.

    This is a very nicely sharp and detailed transfer that picks out every grimy detail to be found in the underworld of Edinburgh. Indeed, there is little that does not get caught in all its glory by this transfer, warts and all. Shadow detail is generally superb throughout, and the fact that you can just about pick out every cobble in the dark street dust-up in the early part of the film really says it all: dark alley, dark night, utter clarity. Apart from what would appear to be some deliberate artistic choices as far as the transfer style goes, this is a wonderfully clear transfer that rivals some of the very best that I have seen. There were no real problems with grain throughout the transfer, and low level noise did not seem to be a problem either.

    Now you were not expecting a superb palette of bright colours here were you? Well, you certainly do not get them. This may well be a vibrant transfer but it sure is not colourful. This is a dour city, with plenty of browns and greys, all of which are superbly captured here. Again, there appear to have been certain artistic choices made as far as colour style are concerned, but overall this is a stunningly dour transfer. There was no indication of oversaturation at all and colour bleed is not a problem to be concerned with. The only relief from the dour palette of colours, apart from the red blood here and there, is the very ending of the film at the hostel.

    There did not appear to be any significant MPEG artefacts in the transfer. However the whole transfer is let down by some rather noticeable aliasing and moiré artefacts that through their sheer consistent presence detract enormously from the film. At times, these really were too much of a distraction, although generally they were nothing more than a persistent nuisance. There did not appear to be any significant problems with film artefacts.
 
 

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There is just the one audio track on the DVD, being an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, and a fine one it is, too.

    Other than having to cope with some fairly broad Scottish accents, and some local jargon, dialogue is generally clear and easy to understand throughout.

    There did not appear to be any problems with audio sync in the transfer.

    The original musical compositions come from Adrian Johnston. To be fair though, this is not a film that requires much in the way of musical accompaniment and there is not much that is distinctive here. However, it certainly makes a contribution to the film and the style of the mixing certainly derives the maximum it possibly can from the score.

    Where this soundtrack had me gaping is in the brilliant front and rear separation, the likes of which we rarely hear on DVD. Now, this is not the most natural-sounding effort straight off, but as you get used to the style of the soundtrack, its effectiveness certainly becomes apparent. There is some quite superb use made of the surround channels, so this is a wonderfully-encompassing soundtrack, with loads of rear ambience really complementing the very present vocal sound stage through the front speakers. There is plenty of space in the sound too, giving everything a nice bloom to it that really highlights the rear channels very well indeed. Thankfully the bass channel use is quite restrained and never becomes overpresent in the mix. This is really a soundtrack that made me sit up and take some notice, such is the clarity and definition of the sound.
 
 

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    Not much of an effort here, although to be fair the film is certainly pushing the capacity of this single sided, single layer disc.

Menu

    Noteworthy only for being widescreen and being 16x9 enhanced.

Theatrical Trailer (1:37)

    A reasonable effort, it is presented in a Full Frame format with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. It is not 16x9 enhanced.

R4 vs R1

    This film has yet to grace the Region 1 release sheets.

Summary

    The Debt Collector is a no-holds-barred film that is definitely not going to please everyone. If you like gritty, street-wise, violent films, then this is one to add to your collection - if you can put up with the aliasing problems with the transfer. Still, if this is an indication that we are to see a few more Film Four efforts from the United Kingdom, I for one am well-pleased.

    A somewhat problematic video transfer.

    A superb audio transfer.

    A poorish extras package.
 
 

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ian Morris (have a laugh, check out the bio)
18th September 2000

Review Equipment
DVD Pioneer DV-515; S-video output
Display Sony Trinitron Wega 80cm. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Audio Decoder Built in
Amplification Yamaha RXV-795. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Speakers Energy Speakers: centre EXLC; left and right C-2; rears EXLR; and subwoofer ES-12XL