Clio Barnard and Enda Walsh’s adaptation of Keiran Goddard’s novel I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning tells the story of a group of late-twentysomethings who find the pressures of surviving working-class life in Birmingham cause cracks in the foundations of their childhood friendship.
Our first introduction to the group is at a birthday party where the alcohol flows freely, a bit of blow is not restricted to the candles on a cake, and the friends are dancing to the music of Mike Skinner’s The Streets: Patrick and Shiv – childhood sweethearts who are getting by with their two kids on his gig economy work, Oli who finds a moment of clarity, and a dog gives him the impetus to focus on a future and not just a fun time, Conor is feeling the pressure of becoming a father while leading his first major building project – a set of luxury apartments in a working-class area, financed by Rian, the only one of the group who “made it out” by getting lucky playing the stock markets on his laptop at home.
They have the weight of the world on their shoulders, balanced on the giant chip placed there by the. That being said, all of them have self-destructive habits that threaten to bring their personal lives crashing down faster than a tower block razed to the ground.
Like the novel, the film feels like a scream into the void, from a place of dissatisfaction, discontent, disillusionment, and desperation. It is not hard to see why many of them seek to fill that void with drink, drugs, and excess.
Anthony Boyle’s Patrick gets to deliver an incendiary, impassioned eulogy on how their “generation is fucked”. Tearing down the issues with capitalism that have led to a world where the young have little hope of achieving the same level of security (whether it be employment, financial, property, or family) that their parents did.
The screenplay is superb. It takes the novel’s first-person monologues and crafts them into a narrative feature. With a large cast of central characters, it could easily have been turned into a mini-series. And yet, Barnard and Walsh succeed in giving everyone a full arc and resolution within the 109-minute runtime. All delivered by the fantastic array of established names like Joe Cole and Daryl McCormack, and rising stars like Anthony Boyle, Jay Lycurgo and Lola Pettigrew. While each individual delivers a great performance, together they are exceptional. The group dynamic delivers an authenticity that makes you believe they have been friends for a lifetime.
It is heavy-going at times, but the talent brings so much heart and hope to this gritty, bittersweet tale that deservedly won the People’s Choice Award at the Director’s Fortnight in Cannes.
I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning is a raw and powerful piece of British cinema. Like how Trainspotting was for Millennials, this could be the film that speaks to, and for, Generation Z.
I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning screened in the Director’s Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival
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Director: Clio Barnard
Stars: Joe Cole, Anthony Boyle, Daryl McCormack, Jay Lycurgo, Lola Pettigrew
Runtime: 109 minutes
Country: UK
