Rent 16 Years of Alcohol (2003)
3.2 of 5 from 60 ratings
1h 37min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- As a child growing up in Edinburgh's Old Town, Frankie Mac (Kevin McKidd) has only one hero - his father - until, sodden by booze, the old man is finally exposed as a philandering liar. As a teenager, already twisted and tainted by all that his young life has thrown at him, Frankie escapes into a violent world of skinhead gangs where drink and loud music help numb his pain. Then he meets a woman who shows him how to be open and honest and, slowly but surely, Frankie the man begins to emerge. At last he finds hope, but with the ghosts of his troubled past never far away, will Frankie ever break free from a life that threatens to destroy him?
- Actors:
- Kevin McKidd, Laura Fraser, Susan Lynch, Stuart Sinclair Blyth, Michael Moreland, Russell Anderson, Iain De Caestecker, Lewis Macleod, Lisa May Cooper, Ewen Bremner, Allison McKenzie, Jim Carter, Gerald Lepkowski, Marcia Rose, Noof Ousellam, Nabil Stuart, John Comerford, Colvin Cruickshank, Louise Irwin, Pauline Goldsmith
- Directors:
- Richard Jobson
- Producers:
- Mark Burton, Richard Jobson
- Writers:
- Richard Jobson
- Aka:
- Frankie Mac - huliganen / Sixteen Years of Alcohol
- Studio:
- High Fliers
- Genres:
- Drama
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Reviews (1) of 16 Years of Alcohol
Drowning in Slow Motion - 16 Years of Alcohol review by griggs
A man’s life plays out like a bruised ballad, punctuated by violence, fleeting tenderness, and the gnaw of regret. Richard Jobson frames Frankie’s story — embodied with brooding intensity by Kevin McKidd — as a journey from Edinburgh gang fights to fragile stabs at love and redemption.
The film announces its literary ambitions early: a prose-poetic voiceover draped over long silences, a piano score that swells and collapses, and a pace that feels like it’s daring you to wait. At its best, these choices land with real force, pressing the emotional weight of memory into every frame. At its worst, they tip into melodrama, turning what could be raw into something overly staged.
Yet Frankie’s struggle is never romanticised. He’s violent, damaged, reaching out for connection but cursed by the reflex to destroy it. For all its flaws, 16 Years of Alcohol still burns — sharp, bitter, and difficult to swallow.
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