Firm, The

Aroview: Dir. Nick Love (THE FOOTBALL FACTORY) again tackles the ugly reality of football hooliganism in this surprisingly mature update of Alan Clarke's powerful 1989 drama of the same name.

Softening the blow of mob violence that the film must inevitably dwell on, Love privileges the experience of two working class lads whose warm, often humorous coming-of-age recalls THIS IS ENGLAND's time capsule of growing up in the eighties. Though not a patch on Clarke's original, this similarly engenders an unlikely sympathy for its characters while also maintaining a reserve in its depiction of thuggish violence.