A London based doorman for a night-club relates the difficulties of the life and the real men behind the supposed thugs who keep the peace at clubs. In particular the ultimate dread - the ones who come back for more after hours.
Shown as part of the Birmingham Film Festival this short was one of eight to be shown that were produced by Screen West Midlands and were predominately set in the Midlands using Midlands based actors and crew. In the case of Bouncer this is partly true as the lead actor is famously from London, but it is set around the writer's experiences of working a night-club door in Coventry.
As such it brings out well the real feelings behind normal situations in their nightly job. The narration is a mix of hard man posturing and frank honesty. It works well and is involving even when not much appears to be happening. The direction is good and the sense of place is pretty good - only once did it look like a fake rather than a real street - although it may just have been the lighting as I think all the `external' was on location.
Winstone is solid in the role. His onscreen role is really emotionless on the whole, but his narration adds layers to it. The other characters do well and hold their own in similar roles alongside Winstone.
Overall this is a good short and deserves the praise it has garnered so far. Credit should be given for Winstone for making time to lend his presence to a small British short when his wider career is doing so well.