Gypo is a derogatory term for members of the Romany community who have migrated to England.  The setting for this film is Margate on the North Sea coast (the scene for The Last Resort which has many thematic resemblances to this film).

For thirty minutes, Gypo focuses on Helen, a young grandmother whose daughter, Kelly, has a young baby that she really couldn’t care less about.  Helen’s husband, Paul, is a silent type who works as a carpet-layer.  Helen manages, criticises, has some peace at a night class for sculpture and works nights at the local supermarket.  She befriends a young Czech woman, Tasha, who works with her daughter, helps her and her mother when they are mugged and tries to help them when they are suddenly abducted to a Continental ferry.  Where to from here?

The name, Paul, comes up in pebbles on the shore and we spend the next 30 minutes looking at Paul’s life and seeing the same events and listening to a shrill Helen from his viewpoint.  He now says much more, much of it aggressive towards Helen, much of it insulting and racist towards Tasha.  We see him at work, his infidelity and his tiring of his life.

Then, in pebbles, Tasha, and 30 minutes, on her life as a migrant from the Czech Republic, living with her mother in a caravan, afraid that her abusive father and husband will turn up.  We see her devotion to her mother, her friendship with Helen, and its surprisingly growing into something more.  And, finally, we see what the crisis is that Helen had to deal with and what eventuates for Tasha and her mother.

Three stories, three different points of view, the clever interweaving of all the threads.  The performances, especially from Pauline McLynn (familiar to many from Father Ted) are convincing.  Paul McGann embodies the taciturn and angry British man.  Chloe Sirene is charming as Tasha.

The style of the film (using the Dogme manifesto of no artificial lighting etc and straightforward narrative) suits the subject and makes a small-budget film quite persuasive.

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