Scummy Man

Scummy Man
Scummy man is based on the arctic monkey song when the sun goes down, taking from the verse
“And what a scummy man
Just give him half a chance, I bet he'll rob you if he can
You can see it in his eyes, yeah, that he's got a nasty plan
I hope you're not involved at all”
It was released on DVD in April 2006 and footage from the film was used in the arctic monkeys video. It was awarded the best music DVD award at the 2007 Nme awards.
Scummy man shows a night in Nina’s life, played by Lauren socha, a 15 year old prostitute who is addicted to drugs. The story is based around an industrial estate in Sheffield. Stephen Graham plays George, also known in the film as scummy man. He is abusive, intimidating and controlling. George is one of Nina’s main clients; he always knows where to find her in the film.
Other characters from the film are the taxi driver and the magician who both try to help Nina, but she assumes they both want something in return. The cab driver takes pity on Nina, as she reminds him of his daughter who was a similar age to Nina but sadly died young, he drives her around and gives her money, but she still assumes he is after something.
Scummy man is a very British, very gritty short film, with themes such as drugs and prostitution. The setting is very dark and being based in a industrial estate, doesn’t show the idea that the characters are going to be wealthy.
You very quickly engaged in al of the different characters life, making you understand what’s going on quicker to how you would in a feature length film. It is very easy to make up your mind on what you think of the characters in scummy man as their personality’s are all portrayed really quickly, for example, we are told straight away that George isn’t a nice man, and we learn to feel sorry for Nina.