Something Cult, Foreign-Language or Indie #17: Human Traffic (1999).

Human Traffic (1999) follows five young London friends: Jip (John Simm), Lulu (Lorraine Pilkington), Nina (Nicola Reynolds), Nook (Shaun Parkes) and Moff (Danny Dyer), who are all fed up with their unrewarding working-class lives, their only escapes from these being when they can all hang out. This of course means hitting the pubs and nightclubs each weekend to get royally fucked-up. Human Traffic follows them over one particularly heady weekend.

Writer-director Justin Kerrigan, aged just 25, drew his first film from three very '90s phenomena - Britpop, the rave culture and Cool Britannia - but these influences are consciously and lovingly invoked, and with or without them, Human Traffic still feels timeless overall. It pulsates with life, with pacing and a visual language that recalls Danny Boyle and Quentin Tarantino and a forceful soundtrack (especially a modern adaptation of God Save the Queen, which the cast perform). It gets you right into the centre of pre-Millennial England, with its youngsters very cynical and unsure if they'll make anything of themselves. And while on the surface they may seem very irresponsible and uncouth, Kerrigan and his very charismatic cast sincerely make you care for them, by nailing the sense of community they have together. There's no understanding or solidarity like the kind between young, misfit friends. For me an added plus, too, is the scattering of Star Wars references throughout; Moff's name being the most obvious. As I think he'd say... it's British brilliance, d'you know what I mean?

Finally, there's a critical lesson here: if you're going to have a pull in your mother's house, for fuck's sake, lock the door.