rothers Des and Dave Gilroy are as mad as hell. They were looking forward to a comfortable retirement in Spain until a crooked property developer swindled them out of their life savings. Now they aim to take revenge on not just the property developer but also the bank and solicitor he was in cahoots with.
The police think the urban terrorist known as the Bluebird Bomber is young and idealistic. Little do they realise he is in fact two silver-haired pensioners who won’t rest until they’re paid £2,000,000.
The Gilroys are out to teach the Establishment a lesson and to remind themselves you’re never too old rock’n’roll.
The story is inspired by the true story of Edgar Pearce, the 1995 West London Mardi Gra Bomber, who at the age of 60 launched a terrorist campaign aimed at Barclays Bank and Sainsbury Supermarkets.
GENRE – Black comedy with musical elements – early British rock ‘n’ roll.
SIMILAR FILMS – “Calendar Girls” meets “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane” meets Ealing Comedies.
TAG LINE – Too old to rock ‘n’ roll, too young to die.
STATUS – The script is written by Patrick Whittaker and is being developed.
Intended as a stopover, the caravan park and adjoining coastline act like quicksand, sucking the three tourists into a timeless summer haze. The boys start to explore the new world they find themselves in. Aleksi, ‘the storyteller’, is beset with lethargy and casts himself under the spell of his 100 DVDs without which this 15 year old cannot survive. Mitya, from whose perspective the story is told, is ‘the runner’ and he deals with the loss of his friend by seeking adventure and entering forbidden worlds. In his wanderings he discovers The Girl; a mysterious blonde teenager who, like Peter Pan, ultimately bears the weight of a great responsibility. Mitya also collides with The Wrecks; a group of wild beach boys, each named after a notorious shipwreck who are heavily invested in their role-playing games. Referred to by locals as beach pirates, The Wrecks prefer to think of themselves as bandits with a code of honour. They hang around the campground and offer Mitya a way out of the darkness that has been blooming inside him since the recent tragedy. Hanging like a cloud over Mitya and Aleksi is the absence of their father. Delayed by work and continuous ‘set backs’ trying to reach them, their father is continuously berated by their mother in arguments by phone. The vulnerability of the boy’s mother is an open invitation to the Park’s Ranger. A sleazy kind of fellow, the Ranger comes into his own when the family’s rust bucket car breaks down. The jack-of-all-trades and master of none provides a compelling performance as a mechanic and as flirtations are exchanged it’s clear the car isn’t going to be repaired any time soon.
The Hotel – illustration by Jani Ikonen
Two other significant characters come in the form of locations; an abandoned silo complex and a derelict hotel called the Hotel Horizon. The accident weeks earlier took place at the decommissioned silo in the boy’s hometown. The Hotel Horizon is an old dame perched on a hill overlooking the beach. Although once upon a time very grand, the hotel is now overgrown and run down. Inside, its sprawling staircases seemingly climb forever and a ballroom still echoes with the sounds of patterned social dances from the 18th century. The hotel is referred to by The Wrecks as “the Viper’s nest” as it is where The Girl conducts her important business. It’s because of her free spirit and seemingly telepathic powers that The Girl has been and continues to be an obsession for many of The Wrecks, and now Mitya.
The Reef tells us of a friendship between boys, of the love between brothers and about a girl who wants to save the lost boys. It also tells about a loss far too great for a child to understand, or for a grown up to accept.
Mitya can’t remember what happened in that tragedy – but he wants to. His big brother Aleksi remembers, every detail – but he wants to forget. Remembering and forgetting, these are the only ways off this reef.
There is a mythical element in the storyline, a timeless tale of what happens to the children who have left the world and been lost too early in life.
The Reef is a book for men who have once been boys and for mothers who have feared for their child. It is also for girls who have wanted to save a boy, or several, and for boys who would rather have, or preferred to play pirates.
The Reef is an adaptation of Seita Vuorela’s award winning book “KARIKKO”. For more information on the project please go to the webpage for The Reef.
SIMILAR FILMS – “The Others”, “Sleepy Hollow”, “Dracula” (the Hammer version), “Interview with the Vampire”, “Nosferatu” (the remake).
TAG LINE – For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?