Name: Playing Away
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1988-06-30
Duration: 1 h 40 min
Rating: 5.9
Cast: Norman Beaton, Robert Urquhart, Helen Lindsay

This is a film about the late 70s made in the late 80s. It is therefore very much of its time and reflects the political mores and attitudes of that period.

You can form your own judgement as to how far we have progressed since then, but the film is a frank and honest endeavour to raise and poke (some) fun at some of the discrimination and racism of the time. It also comes with a gentle humour all of its own, and has a strong black Brixton cast (including Norman Beaton and suzette llewellyn) who overshadow the slightly bland white midsummer village cast (including Nicholas Farrell).

Its an interesting idea, but either the screenplay was poor or the editing cut lacked a clear sense of continuous story. There were probably just too many subplots and minor characters that had a backstory but werent given sufficient screen time to be explained, developed or cared about.

This is not really a cricket or sports film, but nonetheless the game is reflected reasonably accurately in the later game action scenes, certainly more realistically than some other films we could mention.

Overall i quite enjoyed it despite a slightly downbeat and unresolved ending.

Also interesting for an early appearance by Neil Morrissey as a racist lout, and Ross Kenp.

The comedy genre refers to a category of entertainment that aims to amuse and entertain audiences by using humor, wit, and comedic situations. Comedies are created with the primary intention of eliciting laughter and providing lighthearted enjoyment. They encompass a wide range of styles, tones, and themes, appealing to various tastes and audiences.

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To mark the conclusion of their "Third World Week" celebration, a cricket team in a small English village invites a black cricket team from South London to a charity game with comical results.

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Playing Away

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