Why are British films so dreary ?

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140208.x

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Whenever a new British film comes out they seem to follow a pedictable pattern.
The characters seem overwhelmingly to come from a selection of gangsters/drug addicts/wife beaters/football hooligans/unemployed alcoholics or a mixture of all of these.
They inevitably live on south London housing estates or come from northern towns which always have to be described as "bleak".
The films must always portray anyone from a postion of authority in a negative and simplistic fashion and under no circumstances can the films be uplifting or inspiring.
Now I know that there will be exceptions but they are few and far between.
British filmmakers get nice little tax breaks and money thrown at them by the lottery so I suppose there isn't any incentive to do anything better.
 
The fact is that outside of Hollywood few countries in the world have the money and resources to make "big" films, so much home-grown cinema is small-scale and concentrates on drama and emotion rather than on action. It's the same all over Europe and much of the rest of the world.

I've always found it strange that while Britain consistently turns out brilliant TV comedies that so few big comedy films are made in the UK (with the notable exception of Richard Curtis - Four Weddings, Notting Hill, Love Actually etc.)

The fact that Hollywood has all the money means that a very large number of talented British actors, directors and writers move to America to make their films, so a film may have a British director and a largely British cast but won't be produced by a British film studio - a notable example being the James Bond films, which have passed through the various ownerships and mergers of major studios United Artists, MGM, Columbia and Sony.
 
Come on, there have been PLENTY of British comedy films. The Carry On's, for a start. The Full Monty, Four Weddings, Bean etc. and even though a lot of British films are 'grim' there's usually an uplifting message in them. Trainspotting, for example, has a lot of comedy in it and has a really uplifting ending, and yet it also deals with seriously harsh issues. It's just getting the mix right.
 
Sorry I should have said more recent films, the UK films of the past were more varied.
My criticism was reserved for a majority of films made over the last decade or so.
 
Would you mind giving some examples to back up your claims about the British film industry? I'm really not seeing where you're coming from on this one. Danny Boyle has made the biggest British film of the year - Slumdog Millionaire - which is gobbling up the awarRAB left right and centre over in America. That's hardly a "depressing" film. (Though I suppose it is influenced by the Bollywood tradition.)

Atonement was the highest-grossing British film of last year, and though it may match your criteria for dreariness, it wasn't any of the other cliches you appear to think "recent" British films embody.
 
I was thinking a similar thing the other day whilst musing on why I hate the Full Monty and anything by Mike Leigh. It's often put down to the British liking more realistic portrayals of life, hence the popularity of depressing soaps like Eastenders. Australian soaps, for example, are considered to have become successful by finding a common ground between realistic British shows that were popular in Australia and the glitzy American shows.

I don't think this is true however, I suspect it's more BBC/media establishment/BAFTA luvvie dictation that we should like gritty drama, when the reality is that if you look at box office receipts, far and away the most popular movies are Hollywood's. Movies like Slumdog Millionaire or Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels aren't gritty drama, they're stylised commercial projects.

That said, the occasional gritty movie does achieve commercial success, but I don't think it's in any greater proportion than the occasional gritty American movie does.
 
I guess some of the period pieces are 'dreary', and there are some gritty crime dramas.

There have been lots of commercially successful British films that weren't necessarily dreary. Bridget Jones, Shaun of the Dead, Harry Potter, Elizabeth, Bond. Weren't the Bourne movies British? Not sure.

Seems like a fairly decent mix.
 
Two films, both British, both from the last 12 months, both, I hope, examples of how the OP is, with all due respect, talking from an orifice on whence the sun rarely shines ;)

Happy Go Lucky (Directed by none other than the afore mentioned Mike Leigh), no less than a Golden Globe winning performance from Sally Phillips.

Mama Mia! Probably the most fun anyone's had in a Cinema since the singalong Sound of Music was invented.
 
Some are very predictable for the reasons I mentioned but the critics and a few students like them I suppose.
"Gritty" = depressing = British films.
 
Not all British films are dreary it's kind of like someone saying American films are all the same now.I always think British are great sometime's it all depend on what movies you like.
 
I don't get the connection with something being 'bleak' or 'gritty' as also being 'dreary'.

Admittedly, the British films that I love are indeed quite bleak, both visually and in terms of content but they are far from dreary.

I can see where the OP's coming from. In this country we tend to, or rather used to, focus on the more incidental drama in life than the Hollywood drama, a focus on the mundane as opposed to the spectacular. But this in itself is a great challenge and something we have, it seems lost the ability to do, even Mike Leigh can't pull it off any more.

But that subtle observation of the mundane, when done by a great director, is far from dreary. Often they have the ability to convey alot of humour and pathos and by doing so enables us to engage with a film on a deeper level.
 
Well Actually, All The Harry Potter Movies Are Classed As British Films. And look how much of a hit that Saga is.

You Could Also Call The Dark Knight A british Film. British Director, Alot of British Actors (Christian Bale, Micheal Caine, Gary Oldman) Even Heath Ledger isnt American soooo....:D
 
I think that is true,we do pessimism and sarcasm,which leaves us with the ability though to do brilliant snark like"Monty Pythons Holy Grail"."HOT FUZZ !!Clever satire aught to be more our thing,but then the Americans do comedy so brilliantly Will Ferrell,Adam Sandler,Ben Stiller etc
 
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