When a harmless game of Spin the bottle causes appalling consequences for one person, how each of their friends reacts reveals more about them than some people would want in the Afan Arts group feature film ‘Same But Different’ written and directed by Denise C Francis.
Based in the town of Port Talbot in South Wales, home of Richard Burton, Anthony Hopkins, and Michael Sheen, Afan Arts enables the youngsters of the area to get creative within the art of filmmaking. I am of the belief that access to the arts in all its forms is hugely important to the development of young people, so I was pleased to cast my eye over their latest film and learn more about their group.
‘Same But Different’ follows the lives of students and teachers at a secondary school in Port Talbot in which writer and director Denise Francis gives us all the usual tropes that you find in every drama set in a school, from the popular girl and boy to the mean girls who bitch and bully others. We also have the geeks and the jocks, as well as the emos and outcasts. All of the students are overseen by a collection of genial teachers and staff who are far too nice and want what’s best for the kids.
Opening with narration from the popular Grace (played by Catrin Jones in the film’s standout performance) we learn a bit about the town, her family, Grace’s dad (who is one of the school’s well-meaning teachers) and meet her friends. Cameron is Grace’s closest confidante, he is the heart of the piece and actor Sebastian Isaac gives us a really strong, stoic character. There is also Grace’s crush Ben, the sexually confused Alex, and the chief mean girl Isabella. During a party scene reminiscent of 80’s teen movies, the group decides to play spin the bottle, truth or dare, and egg each other on to do more outrageous things. During the games, Isabella dares Cam to kiss Ben and it is this incident that becomes the springboard for an important drama.
Much like the BBC’s Waterloo Road, Same But Different embraces its birthright as a millennial descendant of Grange Hill. The party incident sparks a rise in homophobia across the classrooms and there are a number of serious insults and slurs hurled across corridors and whispered into friends’ ears. Director Francis films ‘Same But Different’ as if it was a BBC teen soap; there are lots of two shots, talking head scenes, and discussions of issues around tables and in staff rooms. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing; it just comes across as a CBBC programme, but a CBBC show is the correct style for this type of project.
Apart from the homophobic language which is crucial to the story, being the point of the drama, none of the dialogue in Francis’ script is intense, shocking, or confrontational, it’s all rather mild with a lot of anxious hand-wringing. Thanks to the editing, the 67 minutes run along pretty smoothly and at a leisurely pace, there is the odd moment when a scene is held a bit too long and I feel should have been cut earlier but other than some slow transitions between shots, there are no serious problems of any note that stand out.
Like I have done earlier in this review ‘Same But Different’ will inevitably be compared to Grange Hill and Waterloo Road, but what Denise Francis and the Afan Arts Group have achieved is making an important public information film about homophobia and the dangers of social media that doesn’t promote or preach, but simply informs and educates.
