The production seems as cheerfully short of cash as its heroes. Much of the racketing around London happens either inside the Custard Cream or by drone shot at night (Covid-19 halted initial production after 10 days). An all-Black and Asian cast and millieu are intrinsic to the story, but the domestic appeal should transcend any categorisation beyond young (and young at heart).Īdmittedly, Pirates is stretched, even at a lean 80 minutes - the story revolves around finding tickets to a sold-out New Year’s Eve Millennium garage party at Twice As Nice in Vauxhall, and these are sourced pretty early on (and lost again). Although he’s behind the camera, Yates is the only name known to audiences, yet that lack of expectation seems to act as a spur to the film’s exuberant actors who should make Pirates a wide proposition when it opens across the UK and Ireland through Picturehouse on November 26.

They dabble in pirate radio, meaning the film’s soundtrack is banging like it’s 1999, but mostly they’re former schoolfriends on the brink of an uncertain future in this ebullient road trip which bounces from North to South London in the space of a joyous day and night.įresh and familiar, wholesome yet a little bit punky, young yet set 21 years agoīacked by BBC Film and the BFI, Pirates is very much a set of archetypes - of character, plot, but also a modern rendition of a very British clean caper which might once have starred The Beatles or Spice Girls (or even Cliff Richard before them) in buses and black cabs or even a submarine.

80 mins.Ĭareening around London in a bubble of high spirits - and a yellow Peugot 205 nicknamed the Custard Cream - the three heroes of Reggie Yates’ feature debut Pirates are 18 year-old boys in search of a New Year’s Eve party to turn over the Millennium.

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