"Pete Sweet" - James Pilkington

I stumbled upon this short film on the BBC Film Network, I was immediately drawn to it through the two main characters Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt (The Mighty Boosh). Directed by James Pilkington in 2000, the film has won various awards including ‘Kodak Short Film Showcase 2002’ and ‘F.A.C.E Award (Film Award for Cinematic Excellence) 2001’.The opening music is stereotypical 1970’s music, depicting the character we are first introduced to Pete Sweet. He rides a MOD scooter and works on a record stall in Camden, all stereotypical of a young man in the 70’s.

First shot we as the audience are shown

The first shot is at an interesting, quirky angle, making the protagonist seem somewhat ‘deranged’. Pete opens his eyes looking straight towards the camera (breaking the fourth wall), he then bops his head to the fast paced disco music still looking straight at the camera, the audience get a sense that he is a bit of a maniacal, interesting, eccentric character. The credits show “Sweet” in a 70‘s type font, illustrating the type of man Pete is and the setting of the film. He introduces himself in a common London accent, as “Pete. Pete Sweet”, this may be referencing “James. James Bond”, conveying he thinks very highly of himself appearance wise, also referencing the fact he the character introduces his hair. The audience are drawn to him, Pete is a likable character, conventional, cool ‘Cockney’ guy. The mid-angled shots depict he is a level-headed man, doesn’t think too highly of himself, or too low of himself, the character believes he is on the same level as everyone else. Pilkington conveys the character as carefree as all he seems to care about are the basics in life, his dogs, his job, his scooter and his “boozer” (which in fact is a very expensive pub).

Pete is proud of his London environment

Pilkington then introduces the audience to his best friend ‘Stitch’, who doesn’t seem as fun as Pete. The narrative voice feels like he is having a conversation with himself, the audience can relate more with the situation. The background music is still the same, keeping the tempo upbeat and fun along with the fast beat to compliment the fast moving narrative. When Pilkington takes us into the disco scene, all characters are dancing stereotypical John Travolta-esque, very 1970’s. The nightclub is plastered in patterned wallpaper identical to a conventional 1970’s bedroom - hideous. Pilkington introduces a humorous tone to the film, by introducing Poppy, the imaginary girl. Pete and Poppy seem to “hit it off” straight away, and begin to make out, which is hilarious, but intensely awkward to watch.

Pete (center) making out with Poppy

The two characters then travel through Camden, performing sexual intercourse anywhere they can find a wall, again, Pilkington plays on the awkwardness of the situation, still playing the music in the background, depicting Pete having intercourse with the air so to speak. The two characters go out for dinner and live together. The music changes to a quieter less frantic 70’s jazz, so that the audiences attention is focused on this bizarre romance as it begins to fizzle out.

Pete strangely making out with his ‘girlfriend’ Poppy

Pilkington primarily uses close-ups and medium shots to establish location and body language, and the close-ups to convey the awkwardness and strangeness of Pete and Poppys relationship. The film then explores their downfall through everyday locations such as the ‘boozer’, the park and the café. The character of Poppy then reveals to Pete that she is, strangely enough, pregnant. Their relationship becomes extraordinarily rocky and dull, along with the accompanying, non-diegetic jazz music. Pilkington then introduces the audience to the character Daisy.

First shot of Daisy shown to the audience

Daisy comes to Pete’s stool and they hit it off straight away. They go for a quiet drink and find out they have a hell of a lot in common. Pilkington picks up the pace of the narrative as the character of Pete continues to see both Daisy and Poppy. Ironically enough “Stitch” sets out to stitch Pete up, as he finally finds out about the affair. The pace in music has become allot faster by this point, as the narrative reaches it’s height of suspense. Pilkington continues to use only medium shots and standard angles to make the short feel more realistic as the concept (the imaginary girlfriend) is far from realism. Therefore the juxtaposition of camera angles and concept makes this short stand out from others and keeps the audience intrigued and feeling part of the narrative due to the breaking of the fourth wall. Daisy finally catches Pete and Poppy having sex, and to everyones amazement, proposes to have a three-way relationship.

From left to right: Poppy, Pete and Daisy

However, Daisy and Poppy start to become a little too close, worrying Pete. The character of Pete remarks, “It’s amazing how understanding women can be”, this makes the character seem extraordinarily naive as all audiences would know, that this is totally not true. Slow cross fades are used throughout to convey time passing and to illustrate the illusionary theme of the concept. The 70‘s jazz music changes back to the slower, previous music when Pete and Poppy were arguing, the audience immediately recognizes the non-diegetic music and associates that piece with a bad time for the protagonist. The music then grinds to a halt as Pete states, “I was gutted”. Pete confronts Stitch and beats him to a pulp, not literally.  Pilkington picks up the music again and shows an out of focus shot, that is slowly brought into focus of Pete and Stitch in bed together. Conclusively, this ending destroys the audiences initial judgements of the characters making it a memorable short film.

Stitch and Pete in bed with a bottle of Jack Daniels, classic

Wikipedia. (2010). Sweet (Film). Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_(film). Last accessed 3rd October 2010.