Gypo

Our Rating: L Factor: Lesbian Film Short Take: First official UK Dogme95 film. Focuses on working class family in seaside Kent, England. Alternate Titles:
Year: 2005 Duration: 99 min Language: UK/English MPAA: Not Rated	Director: Jan Dunn Writer: Jan Dunn Starring: Pauline McLynn, Chloe Sirene, Paul McGann, Rula Lenska, Tamzin Dunstone

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Shot in a pseudo-documentary style from the perspectives of three different characters, Gypo is the first official UK Dogme95 film. The Dogme style involves using a handheld camera, location shooting, no sets or special lighting, etc. The design is to create a very realistic and believable film, a goal they have met very well here.

The production focuses on a working class family in seaside Kent, England. Helen (Pauline McLynn) works nights at the supermarket and is barely on speaking terms with her bigoted, bitter husband Paul (Paul McGann). She’s desperate for a break from the monotony of her life.

One day their daughter Kelly (Tamzin Dunstone) brings home a new friend, a young Roma/Gypsy refugee from the Czech Republic who lives with her mother (Rula Lenska, ‘Footballers Wives’) in a caravan park. Tasha (Chloe Sirene) is the spark Helen has been waiting for, and the two begin an unlikely romance.

The film is also an up close and personal look at violence towards immigrants and the Roma/ Gypsies (for whom ‘Gypo’ is a pejorative term). This type of filmmaking really relies on the performances, and McLynn is wonderful as Helen, creating a character for the audience to care about as she finds some independence in her life by taking an unexpected road with Tasha. (AB)