Gasman

Gasman is a 1997 short film, written and directed by Lynne Ramsay. The 15 minute film was nominated for a BAFTA and won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

Covering the theme of jealously within a disfunctional family during the 1970's, the film effectively highlights the problems different members of the family face over this Christmas period. Lynne (the main character) and her brother go with their father to a Christmas party at what appears to be a working men's club. They walk along an unused train track to an organised meeting with a woman and her two children. It soon becomes apparent that the father and this woman once had a relationship, with the use of a close-up shot of him touching her hair. Lynne's brother comments on the fact that the young girl they have just met looks similar to Lynne: Lynne disagrees after looking at the girl's ragged appearance, disapproving of her wearing her dirty school uniform to a party. Lynne soon becomes suspicious when she sees the other girl sitting on her father's lap at the party, and her instant reaction is to order her to get off her fathers lap. When the little girl claims that it is her father's lap she is sitting on, Lynne is confused. The audience is then able to piece together different parts of the narrative, the father has clearly created a 'secret family' at some point, and these are all his children. It then starts to create enigma within the plot: why is Lynne's mother not at the party too? Does she know about the other children? Why did they meet on the train track?

Technically, Gasman is very successful in provoking different reactions within a short amount of time. At the beginning, you never see any of the character's faces, which i feel adds to the mystery of the whole narrative. It symbolises the secrets that have been kept for many years, to the point where they probably do not know who each other are anymore.

When Lynne notices the other girl on her father's lap, a close-up shot is held on her expression to highlight her confusion. As a child she would not be able to understand the situation instantly, so she watches for a moment. I like this shot because it emphasises Lynne's innocence, she knows this as something only she does with her father. Her natural reaction is to violently pull the girl's hair, a reaction you would not expect a well-brought up child to do in front of their parent - which makes you question her up-bringing? Her father's passive response to this suggests she's had little exposure to discipline.

After the party, the family make their way back down the train track, with both girls fighting for their father's attention. These shots are effective because the characters are going back to where they came from, symbolising that there has been no development. Clearly nobody has benefitted from this meeting: the father never did appear that excited to see his secret children. He heads home ready to continue his life as he did before.

Overally I enjoyed watching Gasman, i thought the mise-en-scene was effective for the time period, as it was not over the top and obviously in the 1970's. Ramsay casted realistic characters who were believeable and appropriate, and the narrative was well suited for a situation that is occuring more frequently in homes as time goes on.