How sad is this?

Blistering performances.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

While I do agree with many of the comments and criticisms of fellow reviewers on this site that there is much cliché,a narrow, outdated and perplexing depiction of the gay experience today, and some offensiveness.I have to say that the interaction of the 14 year old boy with an older man is one of the most powerful, intense, moving and poetic moments I have seen on film in a very long time. Those scenes are well worth the price of admission. Even though their interaction is between two gay characters and two characters far apart in age it transcends those particulars to capture emotional human truths and longings relevant and recognizable to everyone. I was so moved by those scenes that it took my breath away and left me stunned and fulfilled . I do not say this lightly, see for yourself. Rarely do we get to glimpse a depiction of the inner workings of human desire, longing,loss, repression, redemption, salvation , inner struggle, despair, loneliness, joy and fear crammed into one spectacular moment. The two actors were incredibly focused, present and controlled. It was like watching a very intense dance number, with the pacing and movement timed just right to impart the perfect punch. Do not miss this. This is art.

This film is about the events that happen to several gay men around Clapham Common in 36 hours.Due to the enormous number of characters involved, the beginning of the film is a little slow. Once the scene is set, a lot of action kicks in. It touches upon a lot of aspects of gay culture, some of the unpleasant aspects are portrayed in a raw and almost disturbing manner. As others have commented, the scene where the 14 year old boy and the loner encounter at home is dramatic, tense and well acted. It is easily the most memorable scene of the whole film.This film is raw, brutal and depressing. It can certainly help to raise debates over anonymous sex, and raise awareness over the tragedy of gay bashing.

After much publicity by Channel 4, Clapham Junction started off slow and honestly quite dull. As time went on the plot line began to pick up yet you were still unable to empathise with any of the characters. The programme was cliché ridden and also contained scenes which were pointless at the very least. Three quarters into the show everything began to get confusing again. The character played by Paul Nicholls was also very confusing. Was he gay? Was he straight? There was a very dark mood throughout the whole programme which continued even to the end. As the end approached, i found myself asking questions about what would happen to certain characters. I was sure this would appear on the screen before the end credits. It didn't. And so the audience is left with not only a cliff hanger but also many questions about most of the main characters unanswered. Good performances by the actors involved but i can't help but feel that had some of the pointless scenes been cut, the running time could have been shortened and the programme could have concentrated on a lot less pointless characters. I also felt slightly confused by the inclusion of the small black child playing the violin at certain periods in the programme. By the end the dark mood became even darker when all that was left was his smashed up violin under a bridge. Cue the end credits. All in all a huge disappointment

Good performances. OK - now wev'e got the only positive comment about this TV film out of the way, let's have a look. What the hell was the point of this? Populated by a group of unpleasant, unlikeable stereotypes, it really looked like something that would have been made 20 years ago. Cliché ridden and unrelentingly grim throughout, the gay characters were either predatory, seedy individuals or had serious repression/hang up or psychological problems. The sex and violence scenes were sensationalist to say the least. This was meant to be part of C4's marking of 40 years of the liberation of gay men from the previous institutionalised repression they had suffered in this country throughout history. There are gay men like the ones in the film, I sometimes meet them, but they certainly do not represent the majority. Nobody wanted to see a positive propaganda exercise about gays, but neither did we want to see this parade of sad / damaged individuals. Whatever happened to balance? A piece of TV that was thoroughly depressing and ultimately, totally pointless.