Cass

The 90s saw a new and still present cultural phenomenon emerge: the New Lad. As well as embracing binge drinking, football and pseudo-porn magazines, new lads were also quick to lionise gangsters and criminals. One such figure was notorious football hooligan Cass Pennant, who overcame the racism of 70s Britain to be both feared and admired on and off the terraces, and who would become a successful author after a spell in prison being shot three times. That this biopic manages to avoid exploitation or hagiography is testament to Scottish debut director Jon S. Baird. Shot on 16mm, the film has a washed-out palette preventing any risk of sexiness, and while the drama is entirely conventional, the characters are so well drawn it is hard not to engage with the still relevant issues the film addresses. Admittedly raw and at times awkwardly paced, Baird’s film nonetheless succeeds where his earlier production, the puerile Green Street (on which he was associate producer), did not.