Once Upon A Time in Glasgow

That Sinking Feeling. 1979. UK.

Directed by Bill Forsyth. 2 Entertain DVD. Reg 2.

It’s been a little over a quarter of a century since I watched That Sinking Feeling. Now on DVD I was pleased to discover that the movie has lost none of it’s charm. Okay, so the acting is quite bad but the heart behind the comedy performances more than makes up for any flaws in the casting.

There’s not much of a plot but the characters begin to slowly wear you down like the sea lapping at a beach until you’re pulled under the ocean of light comedy without even realising it.

And there are little sequences I could still remember from my teenage years. Like the two victims of the over-enthusiastic, suspended animation Mickey Finn and it’s two victims (one human and one feline).

There were, however, two things that greatly alarmed me about this particular DVD. One is that it states clearly on the cover that it is in a 4:3 aspect ratio. Well fans of this film can rejoice, the label got it wrong. It is, in fact, a non-amorphic 1:85 aspect ratio within a 4:3 frame and easily zoomable to the correct “fit” if you have a widescreen TV... and similarly perfect as it is for those of you who don’t. The original aspect ratio is preserved in tact on both formats.

The other thing which is really worrying is the description the BBFC felt necessary to include next to the movies reclassified 12A Certificate... “Contains comedic suicide references, sexualised nudity and smoking scenes.” That really is an indicator of what sad times we are living in.

And it’s also a sad fact that, try as I might, I could find no scenes whatsoever including sexualised nudity.

That Sinking Feeling is a charming movie for people who like nice, gentle, lazy comedies.