David Wiseman is mad about cricket but no good at it! The 11 year old has all the kit he could wish for but none of the skill, and he's a perpetual outsider at school. When a Jamaican family move in next door, build a cricket net in the back garden and even offer to coach him, David is in seventh heaven. But in the climate of postwar England, residents of the community make life difficult for the newly arrived family, and David has to choose between fitting in and standing up for his new friends.
Directed by
Paul Morrison
Written by
Paul Morrison
Starring
Sam Smith (David Wiseman); Leagh Conwell (Jessop); Dominic Barklem (Pritchard); Jo Stone-Fewings (Mr. Pugh); Emily Woof (Ruth); Yasmin Paige (Lilian); Richard Ashton (W.G. Grace); Carol MacReady (Mrs. Wilson); Stanley Townsend (Victor); Osnat Schmool (Mrs. Glickstein); Mark Penfold (Head Teacher); Tom Roberts (James Bryce); Philip Whitchurch (Mr. Woodberry); Angela Wynter (Grace); Petra Letang (Loretta). Please contact SFC to add other cast members and characters.
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Tries to tackle too many issues - plus some strange age dynamics
Mark Banks (United Kingdom)
Opinion: Limited Recommendation
This was a strange little film. I thought it had its heart in the right place overall, but it just tried to cover too much ground - racism, affairs, young romance, religion, and cricket to top it all off. As well as that I just couldn't get over the strange age dynamics going on - David's mother could've passed for his sister and his father could've passed for his grandad. Dennis next door also looked too old for his character (Delroy Lindo was 50+ when this was filmed), whilst his daughter was mixed race whilst his wife was also black! It's all possible I guess but it would've been nice to have been given some reasoning behind it all. Oh and one final thing, at one point we're told that the Jewish people gave us the Old Testament - unless I'm highly mistaken St Paul was also Jewish as were all of the other New Testament writers (excluding St Luke). I don't think Christianity's Jewishness should be distorted. Once again, good potential missed.
