Brilliant!

sam_ainsworth

Being Sold asks the question – 'what is a human life worth?' Quite a deep question for what is mostly a very light-hearted film, though moments of seriousness break up the comedy as we see the lead character gain an understanding of what is happening to him.

The story centres on John Foster (Christopher Dane) a man from south Manchester who in a drunken haze following a row with his wife, lists himself for sale on an online auction site. A victim of the recession, his redundancy has made him feel inadequate compared to his wife Lara (Eva Pope) who has kept her job.

We join the story with just over an hour until the end of the auction and John is already attracting attention from the media. Pushy, ambitious reporter Maia Long (superbly played by Jessica Blake) is hot on the heels of the story, flattering John and attracting him with ideas of fame and fortune in order to get the exclusive. Meanwhile, there is excellent support from Lee Boardman as Chris, John's best-friend – a somewhat childish man who's antics leave Lara despairing and provider of some of the films funniest moments. There are also brilliant cameos from Lesley Joseph as John's mother, Roy Walker as a psychiatrist and Terry Christian.

As events unfold, the clock ticks down and the bids go up, the tension increases as John beings to see past all the media bluster and realise exactly what he has done and the consequences of his actions. In one of the film's most touching moments, he recalls the birth of his son and wonders how he got there. The last 5 minutes of the film as the auction counts down are tense, exciting, funny and there is a twist in the tale at the last minute that most will not have seen coming.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about this film however, is that it was shot in just two days by award winning director Phil Hawkins on a budget of just £20,000. How they did this is explained in the hour-long documentary 'How did they shoot a feature film in two days?' Both this and the film are available to purchase from the website http://www.beingsoldthemovie.com/ Watch this film. You'll laugh and maybe cry but you won't be disappointed.

score 10/10

sam_ainsworth 21 June 2011

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2447033/