Tomorrow La Scala!

Cannes film festival
2 out of 5 2

The last of the British films to be presented at Cannes looks as if it would be a safer bet on television. A small-budget debut from Francesca Joseph, Tomorrow La Scala! was apparently inspired by the experience the director had directing a production of Sweeney Todd in Wormwood Scrubs, using some inmates in bit parts.

The result is a lively piece that has a slightly daft director (Jessica Stevenson) telling her lifer extras that the Sondheim musical is about brutalisation, abuse, descent into madness and murder - a not exactly tactful introduction for such a group.

It has the lead singer (Samantha Spiro) having an affair with one of the inmates, and a homosexual rape scene thrown in for good measure. It also has one lifer breaking down when a nosey reporter, there to do a feature, quizzes him about his crime. Rather more drama, in fact, than one might have expected to actually take place.

There can be no criticism of the cast, who all play well, some excellently, even if it has to be said that some of the actor lifers do look rather less convincing than the real thing. What's lacking, apart from credibility, is any discernible cinematic style. Everything flows nicely and there's no sentimental feelgood ending to chaff at, but when you've seen the work of Mike Leigh and Ken Loach at the festival, this does seem like small beer.

The film, placed in the Certain Regard section, does show that Joseph has a way with actors, and her screenplay, partly improvised with the help of the cast, gives them plenty to chew on. Nor is the low budget very apparent - and the moral, that a prison is a better, quieter place if the inmates get involved in something worthwhile, is underlined with praiseworthy emphasis. Plenty of warmth, but never quite enough bite.

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