Peter Mullan’s follow-up to The Magdelene Sisters is another hard-hitting story.
A young boy from an abusive family, John is tarred with the reputation of his older brother and finds himself falling through the school system on an inexorable downward spiral to a life of petty crime and borderline mental illness.
Reminiscent of This Is England in its depiction of disenfranchised youth and class conflict in 1970s Glasgow, this is a heartrending account of young potential in freefall. The uneasy question Mullan poses is whether or not John can transcend the combined destiny of his class, family and education and emerge unscathed into adulthood to create a future for himself.
It’s a question to which the film doesn’t provide any pat answers – but suggests is going to be a very difficult path indeed. Laced with a steely humour and with an uncompromising moral centre, Neds is frequently reminiscent of Loach and Clarke in its tender affection for characters who find themselves living on the margins of an unforgiving society, doing their best to make the decisions which may give them a better life.