By Josh Horwood.

Directed by Andrew Blackburn, 97 mins, on VOD now.

Being Nice is a coming of age drama about Jen, a graduate who begins trial period at an advertising agency. She still lives at home with her mum and her mum’s new boyfriend. Over the course of the film, she falls for a colleague who is already in a relationship. It is a small British Independent film set in London.

The pace is deliberately slow, giving us time to soak in the terrific naturalistic performances and the atmosphere created by Blackburn’s solid direction. He often places the camera in corners, silently observing characters; he doesn’t ask us to judge, just to accept. The style reminded me most of Gervais and Merchant’s The Office, a handheld, fly on the wall documentary. There are no fourth wall breaking tricks here though, the drama is all self contained and scenes and conversations overlap with a smooth rhythm. The films weakest point is Rob Wilton’s photography, but when a film is made for only £5,000, you shouldn’t expect it to look particularly glossy.

The performances are all terrific and perfectly pitched. Jessica Francis’ understated performance deserves particular praise. It is her first feature film but she carries this film with a quiet confidence, hers is a name you should remember. She and Alex Warren deliver the film’s best scenes, when the two colleagues are left stranded in Slough. Although it is fairly obvious where this sequence is leading, there is a pleasure in watching the two actors work together. The scenes at Jen’s home are well played too, the conversation had over fried eggs was one of my favourites.

The dialogue was all improvised by the cast and this adds to the very real, very natural tone of the film. The score is absolutely formidable, with music contributed by Matt Riviere. It provides us Jen’s internal monologue without being on the nose.

This is a very confident debut, with stunning lead performances. I’m excited to see what the cast and crew work on next.

Very highly recommended.

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