Vacuuming Completely Nude In Paradise

Year: 2001

Grade: C+

Country: UK

Director: Boyle

Review

danny boyle (trainspotting, 28 days later…) film about a pair of vacuum cleaner salesmen. one is there out of desperation and the other is the hardened veteran who is seemingly obsessed with his work. this film seems to have been the precursor to 28 days later…, not in theme or content, but in the sense that it was done using DV. it seems to me to be just a fun little film that boyle did on the side to hone his skills using digital video. that’s not to say that this film is merely a flash in the pan, or a waste of time, but it’s clearly not the same caliber film as 28 days later… or trainspotting. boyle puts the camera everywhere – the glove compartment, in a corner, near the ceiling like a surveillance camera, behind the wheel of a car, etc. all this makes me think boyle was using this film as a stepping stone to 28 days later…, consciously or not. the veteran salesman, played by timothy spall, is a great character who seems to be bursting from the seams in every scene; everything he does is exaggerated to comic effect. there are brief glimmers of seriousness or commentary on the social stratification of the UK, but it’s mainly a short (75 minutes) made for tv (bbc) comedy.