https://youtu.be/7WzNmia-Iqk - but in a superbly controlled way
This was fantastic. It had a hallucinatory and unhinged air about it with all elements contributing to this. The landscapes in which it took place were central to this - blasted heaths with an alien sense about them which was excellently established by the marvellous aerial shots judiciously used throughout.
The soundtrack was a very imaginative mix of contemporary punk-style pop ( very appropriate for the gang who, as with the Punk movement, saw themselves as radical transgressives (of which more later). This was interspersed with quieter sounds, largely musical but often with a weird and other-worldly quality and often and very effectively used to help in establishing the visual environment of the film.
The transgressive element was a fascinating one in the film. The gang’s cross-dressing as a technique for disturbing those whom they robbed and attacked, as well as representative of the outsider status that they saw themselves as representing was fascinating and this was combined with a strong homoerotic element in terms of the relationships between some gang members, including Ned. But this was always seen as part of their transgressive approach to their lives rather than as an ‘exploration of the gay subtexts in the story of the gang’; it was not that approach to this topic that was used in the film.
The son/mother relationship was fascinating and recalled elements of Hamlet’s relationship with his mother and stepfather.
As Ned , George Mackay was superb ((recently he was one of the leads in Sam Mendes’ 1917) with an edgy intensity that leapt off the screen - sort of recalled James Dean. And the boy actor who played his younger self was almost as impressive, with a disturbing dead-eyed and unblinking look.
Superb then - and as I now realise that the director also did the Fassbender Macbeth, that has made me ensure that I see that as well.