Anton & Minty (1995)

• 80%
• 1995
• Comedy
• Alnoor Dewshi
• Simon Munnery
• Neville Robinson
• Syreeta Kumar

An imaginative, disturbing and witty portrait of life through the eyes of two eccentric young adults. Strong black and white photography combined with an experimental approach to narrative creates a poetic film that is visually arresting and thought provoking. Alnoor Dewshi describes his short film as "a film about dreams and brain effluent, free flowing streams of rubbish". In Anton and Minty, these fluid interactions define the relationship between the characters and the rest of the world. Though Dewshi originally envisaged the brother and sister pair as having South East Asian backgrounds, the fact that Anton (Neville Robinson) is Black and Minty (Syreeta Kumar) Asian adds an intriguing depth to the narrative. Are they lovers? Flatmates? Conspirators in a plot to overthrow everyday normality? We are never told, not even that they are related, and yet it is to the film's great credit that we willingly accept their version of reality. Anton has a mercurial intelligence that often leads the viewer up the garden path, while Minty, prone to falling into a coma with terrifying unpredictability, has an equally strange and vulnerable connection to reality. These two unreliable witnesses make the small piece of the city they inhabit a magical, dazzling place where we find truth in small moments.