Firm, The

Aroview: Another of dir. Clarke’s essential forays into the vicious subcultures of Britain, here a ‘firm’ of football hooligans led by real estate agent Gary Oldman.

Subverting the media stereotypes of hooligans as ‘underclass scum’, this portrays them as a mixture of affluent types, for whom violence is a necessary hobby, and approval-seeking youngsters, there to boost numbers and poke fun at. As a vendetta with a rival ‘firm’ escalates, this seizes onto the nature of the obsession and the mob dynamics which fuel it, distinguished by Clarke’s knack for creating sympathy where none should exist.

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