The Pass (2016 film)

Last updated
The Pass
The Pass (2016 film).png
British release poster
Directed byBen A. Williams
Written byJohn Donnelly
Produced by Duncan Kenworthy
Starring Russell Tovey,
Arinze Kene,
Lisa McGrillis,
Nico Mirallegro
CinematographyChris O'Driscoll
Edited byMasahiro Hirakubo
Justine Wright
Production
company
Toledo Productions
Distributed by Lionsgate
Release dates
Running time
87 minutes [1]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Pass is a 2016 film starring Russell Tovey and Arinze Kene. It was directed by Ben A. Williams, based on a play by John Donnelly. The film is about a relationship between two men who are English football players, and how their lives unfold over the course of a decade. The film was nominated at the 2017 BAFTA Awards, in the category of Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer for John Donnelly and Ben Williams.

Contents

Plot

Nineteen-year-olds Jason and Ade have been in the Academy of a famous London football club since they were eight years old. It's the night before their first-ever game for the first team – a Champions League match – and they're in a hotel room in Romania. They should be sleeping, but they're over-excited. They skip, fight, mock each other, prepare their kit, watch a teammate's sex tape. And then, out of nowhere, one of them kisses the other. The impact of this 'pass' reverberates through the next ten years of their lives – a decade of fame and failure, secrets and lies, in a sporting world where image is everything.

Cast

Reception

As an independent feature, the film received a limited screening, primarily being shown around the world at film festivals. The film had a special screening at London's BFI Flare Film Festival, in correspondence with their celebration of LGBT cinema.

The Pass holds a 93% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 13 reviews, with a weighted average of 7.1/10. [2] The film holds a score of 66% on Metacritic. [3]

Empire gave it three out of five stars and said "Russell Tovey gives a layered, career-best performance in an intense interior drama that never quite shakes its theatrical origins". [4] The Guardian gave it four out of five stars and said "Its stage roots show through at times, but this story of homoerotic tension between two youth team players is well made and acted". [5]

Release

The film premiered as the opening film of the BFI Flare London LGBT Film Festival on 16 March 2016 at the Odeon Leicester Square. [6] It was released in the UK and Ireland on 9 December 2016. The film was released on DVD and Amazon and YouTube to stream online in the UK in April 2017. The U.S. premiere for the film was on 7 July 2017 at the Outfest Film Festival in Los Angeles.

In 2018 it was announced that The Orchard had picked up the film for U.S. distribution, with the film releasing on 8 May 2018.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Linklater</span> American film director, producer and screenwriter (born 1960)

Richard Stuart Linklater is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for making films that deal thematically with suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. His films include the comedies Slacker (1990) and Dazed and Confused (1993); the Before trilogy of romance films: Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), and Before Midnight (2013); the music-themed comedy School of Rock (2003); the adult animated films Waking Life (2001), A Scanner Darkly (2006), and Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood (2022); the coming-of-age drama Boyhood (2014); the comedy film Everybody Wants Some!! (2016); and the romantic comedy Hit Man (2023).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival</span> European LGBTIQ+ film festival

BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival, formerly known as the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (LLGFF), is the biggest LGBTIQ+ film festival in Europe. It takes place every spring in London, England. Organised and run by the British Film Institute, all BFI Flare screenings take place in the BFI Southbank.

<i>All or Nothing</i> (film) 2001 film by Mike Leigh

All or Nothing is a 2002 British drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh and starring Timothy Spall and Lesley Manville. Like much of Leigh's work, the film is set in present-day London, and depicts three working-class families and their everyday lives.

<i>Looking</i> (TV series) 2014 American comedy-drama television series

Looking is an American comedy-drama television series which ran on HBO from January 19, 2014, to July 23, 2016. Created by Michael Lannan and produced by David Marshall Grant, Sarah Condon, and Andrew Haigh, it stars Jonathan Groff, Frankie J. Alvarez, Murray Bartlett, Lauren Weedman, Russell Tovey, and Raúl Castillo. The show follows the experiences of Patrick, Agustín, and Dom, three gay friends who live and work in modern-day San Francisco. It was the network's first series centered on the lives of gay men.

<i>Boy Culture</i> 2006 American film

Boy Culture is a 2006 American romantic drama film directed by Q. Allan Brocka, based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Matthew Rettenmund. The film stars Derek Magyar, Darryl Stephens, Patrick Bauchau, Jonathon Trent, and Emily Brooke Hands.

<i>A Prophet</i> 2009 film by Jacques Audiard

A Prophet is a 2009 French prison crime film directed by Jacques Audiard with a screenplay by Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, Abdel Raouf Dafri and Nicolas Peufaillit, from a story by Dafri. The film stars Tahar Rahim in the title role as an imprisoned petty criminal of Algerian origin who rises in the prison hierarchy, becoming a mob associate and drug trafficker as he is absorbed into the Corsican mafia and then ingratiates himself into the Maghrebi crime syndicate.

<i>Grabbers</i> 2012 Irish-British monster film by Jon Wright

Grabbers is a 2012 monster horror comedy film directed by Jon Wright and written by Kevin Lehane. A co-production of Ireland and the United Kingdom, the film stars Richard Coyle, Ruth Bradley, Bronagh Gallagher and Russell Tovey among an ensemble cast of Irish actors.

<i>Grassroots</i> (film) 2012 American film

Grassroots is a 2012 American biographical political dark comedy film directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal, based on the book Zioncheck for President by Phil Campbell. Shot in Seattle, the film revolves around a grassroots campaign for Seattle City Council and explores what happens when a dedicated activist tries to realize a vision by seeking political office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Haigh</span> English filmmaker

Andrew Haigh is an English filmmaker. He is best known for writing and directing the films Weekend (2011), 45 Years (2015), Lean on Pete (2017), and All of Us Strangers (2023). He also wrote and directed the HBO series Looking (2014–2015) and its film sequel Looking: The Movie (2016), as well as the BBC Two limited series The North Water (2021).

<i>The Program</i> (2015 film) Biographical film about Lance Armstrong

The Program is a 2015 biographical drama film about Lance Armstrong directed by Stephen Frears, starring Ben Foster as Armstrong and Chris O'Dowd as journalist David Walsh.

Trouser Bar is a 2016 British silent erotic comedy/fantasy film directed by Kristen Bjorn, photographed by Sam Hardy, and edited by Esteban Requejo. The executive producer and driving force behind Trouser Bar is British screenwriter, playwright and producer David McGillivray, who famously collaborated with directors including Pete Walker and Norman J. Warren.

<i>Toni Erdmann</i> 2016 film by Maren Ade

Toni Erdmann is a 2016 German comedy-drama film directed, written and co-produced by Maren Ade. It stars Peter Simonischek and Sandra Hüller.

<i>Raw</i> (film) 2016 film by Julia Ducournau

Raw is a 2016 coming-of-age body horror drama film written and directed by Julia Ducournau, and starring Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf, and Rabah Nait Oufella. The plot follows a young vegetarian's first year at veterinary school, where she tastes meat for the first time and develops a craving for human flesh.

<i>The Happy Prince</i> (2018 film) 2018 film

The Happy Prince is a 2018 biographical drama film about Oscar Wilde, written and directed by Rupert Everett in his directorial debut. The film stars Everett, Colin Firth, Colin Morgan, Emily Watson, Edwin Thomas and Tom Wilkinson. It premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, and was shown at the 2018 BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival. At the 9th Magritte Awards, it received a nomination in the category of Best Foreign Film.

<i>Been So Long</i> (film) 2018 film by Tinge Krishnan

Been So Long is a 2018 musical film directed by Tinge Krishnan based on the musical of the same name, with a screenplay written by Ché Walker.

<i>Im Your Woman</i> (film) 2020 American crime film

I'm Your Woman is a 2020 American neo-noir crime film set in the 1970s and directed by Julia Hart from a screenplay by Hart and Jordan Horowitz. It stars Rachel Brosnahan, Arinzé Kene, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Bill Heck, Frankie Faison, Marceline Hugot and James McMenamin. Brosnahan plays Jean, a woman on the run after her husband, who is involved with organized crime, mysteriously goes missing.

<i>Cicada</i> (2020 film) 2020 American film

Cicada is a 2020 American romantic drama film directed by Matthew Fifer and Kieran Mulcare. Fifer co-wrote the film with Sheldon D. Brown, both of whom starred in leading roles.

<i>Love Again</i> (film) 2023 film by James C. Strouse

Love Again is a 2023 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by James C. Strouse. It is an English-language remake of the 2016 German film SMS für Dich, itself based on a novel by Sofie Cramer. The film stars Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Sam Heughan, and Celine Dion, in her first feature film, portraying a fictionalized version of herself.

<i>Tuesday</i> (2023 film) 2023 film by Daina O. Pusić

Tuesday is a 2023 fantasy drama film written and directed by Daina O. Pusić in her feature directorial debut. A co-production between the United Kingdom and the United States, the film stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Lola Petticrew as a mother and daughter who are guided by Death in coping with the daughter's impending death by terminal illness. Leah Harvey and Arinzé Kene also star.

<i>Jerry & Marge Go Large</i> 2022 American film by David Frankel

Jerry & Marge Go Large is a 2022 American comedy-drama film directed by David Frankel and written by Brad Copeland. Based on Jason Fagone's 2018 HuffPost article of the same name, the film, which is based on a true story, stars Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening.

References

  1. ↑ "The Pass". British Board of Film Classification . Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  2. ↑ "The Pass_2016". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved June 27, 2017.
  3. ↑ "The Pass". Metacritic . Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  4. ↑ Freer, Ian (5 December 2016). "The Pass Review". Empire . Retrieved 27 June 2017.
  5. ↑ Bradshaw, Peter (8 December 2016). "The Pass review – ambitious and insightful drama about gay footballers". The Guardian . Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  6. ↑ Gant, Charles (15 March 2016). ""Questions were asked in parliament": the story behind LGBT film festival BFI Flare". Screen. Retrieved 2023-12-20.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.