The Must See British Independent Film Sixteen Years of Alcohol

Sixteen Years of Alcohol is a British Film depicting an alcoholic's struggle to come to terms with the two conflicting sides of himself:  the violent addict and the passionate idealist.  It’s shot in Edinburgh, Scottland with absolutely beautiful cinematography and begins with the middle Aged Frankie Mac (Kevin McKidd) being beaten and kicked in an alley.  The rest of the movie takes places in a dream like state with Frankie looking back on his life.  The Director/Writer Richard Jobson based this movie off him and his brother’s real lives.  This gives the poetry and story a really personal realism that I think is it’s richest attraction.

Kevin McKidd ,who plays Frankie Mac, does an outstanding job and the movie as a whole is not very predictable, which is very refreshing.  The non-chronological unfolding of the story in the retrospective (looking back) point of view helps increase this effect.  The beginning is a little slow, but will keep you interested as you will instantly be able to empathize with the young childhood Frankie. There are three main stages of the film which consist of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. 

I don’t want to spoil the plot line for those of you who haven’t seen it yet, but in short an idealistic boy is exposed to the hard reality of his father’s true character.  This disillusionment continues into adolescent where Frankie becomes a violent gang leading alcoholic.  He finds love and tries to come out of his past, but his self destructive tendencies keep pulling him back. 

Frankie’s narration is bit simply and repetitive, but the shear charisma and dualism of the main character as he struggles with the two different sides of himself make him an extremely interesting multi-dimensional character.  The main attraction to this piece is the strong character driven development of the relationships Frankie Mac has and how they change throughout the different parts of his life.