One of this interesting film's strengths is its powerful suggestion of mood. But how authentic is its portrayal of early 1950s Glasgow? The 19th century 'second city of the empire' was still largely intact at this time, although in desperate decline, its tenements and civic buildings jet black with grime. Still to come was its reinvention as the 'city of architecture and culture', the tenements and industrial relics largely swept away, the survivors carefully cleaned and spruced up.
The film's attempt to recreate Alexander Trocchi's city (the novel appeared in 1954) is assiduous but unconvincing. The buildings are too clean, the canal too obviously the modern, recreational waterway. The bar interiors and customers are likewise not quite right. It is not enough to give the all-male clientele cloth caps and emphasize the bareness of the interiors - the raucous vibrancy of the city's bar-oriented culture fails to come across.
And the problem goes beyond this. The characters don't look right for the period. McGregor and Swinton in their manner and bearing belong to 2000 not 1950. Only Therese Bradley as the Swinton character's slatternly sister looks as though she could have stepped out of Frederick Wilson's 'Floodtide' (1949) - now there's a film to tell you what Glasgow was like then!
The film's attempt to recreate Alexander Trocchi's city (the novel appeared in 1954) is assiduous but unconvincing. The buildings are too clean, the canal too obviously the modern, recreational waterway. The bar interiors and customers are likewise not quite right. It is not enough to give the all-male clientele cloth caps and emphasize the bareness of the interiors - the raucous vibrancy of the city's bar-oriented culture fails to come across.
And the problem goes beyond this. The characters don't look right for the period. McGregor and Swinton in their manner and bearing belong to 2000 not 1950. Only Therese Bradley as the Swinton character's slatternly sister looks as though she could have stepped out of Frederick Wilson's 'Floodtide' (1949) - now there's a film to tell you what Glasgow was like then!