I wanted to but couldn't!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Excellent film about the problem of alcoholism; a problem keenly felt in the director's native Scotland.There is an autobiographical veracity about the whole thing, plus an intimate knowledge and use of Edinburgh locations, and songs by the magnificent Glasweigan band the Blue Nile. McKidd is a revelation as the central protagonist Frankie, Laura Fraser is, as always, effortlessly sexy.Yes, the film is rather portentous in tone and spare in cinematic style, but that tends to suit the subject. 'Creepy and sad'? 'More dull dross from a pretentious Scotsman'? Such IMDb user criticisms seem ridiculously unjustified to me, though users have a point when they criticise the film's lack of continuity at times: the characters not changing in appearance or dress across more than a decade's time-span. It might be nitpicking, but I think these people have a point; it does kind of undermine the verisimilitude that Jobson is aiming for.Overall, though, a fine film from that hard-boiled, all-round renaissance man, Richard Jobson. It seems some of his subsequent films seem less promising; a shame, as this film suggests that he could make films up there with the better Neil Jordan fare.

The title of this film is a very simplistic black and white understatement to a richly colored piece of art. The subject matter, alcoholism, and the toll it takes on society, it's children and young adults is approached and played out with great subtlety and artistry- this is no public education piece that preaches at the viewer. Rather, it seduces the viewer with excellent directing, fine acting, rich color, poetically minimalistic dialog and a great soundtrack. I was surprised to read that this was not in an accessible format- the copy I rented plays on U.S. video devices and computers with no problem at all. My only disappointment with this movie is the lack of an available soundtrack for purchase.

I really don't understand how come some people trash this movie! There is nothing wrong with: the acting is quite good, the direction is quite fresh, the music rules and the story is reasonably good.Yes, there are same scenes taken from Kubrick's work and the whole story is NOT original, but the setting in Scotland's capital is quite nice. I was pleasantly surprised by the actors,quite natural acting helped probably by a story that is very familiar to some of them:)Overall this film is well worth it and would expand your horizon of good European movies.A well deserved 7/10.

I feel like I've been had, the con is on, don't fall for it. After reading glowing reviews (the Director was a film reviewer with Sky for years so must have a lot of mates in the press ready to do him a favour by writing favorable reviews) I expected solid acting, atmosphere, suspense, strong characterization, an intriguing plot development and poetic moments. Sadly, 'Sixteen years of Alcohol', doesn't deliver on the critics promises, for the most part, sacrifices these qualities in lieu of cheesy low budget special effects (what was that clichéd cobweb scene in there for?), unrealistic fight choreography and mindless mind numbing narration, cliché edits and camera angles.'Sixteen years of Alcohol' starts off interestingly with some beautiful location shots in Scotland, but it's straight downhill from here. Unfortunately, instead of spending some time building atmosphere, creating characters we might care about, or building suspense - the director opts to begin driving you crazy with self indulgent heavy handed twaddle voice-over's. The lead characters are so unsympathetic and are so badly acted - the audience doesn't care what happens to them, desperate Actors do desperate things...like this movie!. To make matters worse, the 'homage's' (typical of a director trying to pay his dues to past masters) are either utterly cliché or unconvincing. The soundtrack is the only thing that lifted me and kept me in the cinema but even that failed to support the dramatic narrative other connecting a period of time to the action.For some reason the movie got increasingly flawed and to be quite honest annoying. I still watched the whole damn thing!I guess I liked the attempt at gritty realism in the film but even that was destroyed when they were often inter-cut with weird and abstract, sometimes pointless scenes. You don't need a huge budget to make truly moving film, so much has been said about how little money they had to make this film, half a million is not a little bit of money...SO NO EXCUSES! Sometimes I wonder what the actors...Or their agents were thinking!Pass on this turkey unless you're masochistic or mindless anyway....NOT MY THING1.5/10