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Straight Through Crew (2025), A Mind-Bending Look At Going Nowhere

Straight Through Crew Movie

&NewLine;<p>Many view the transition from school into the working world as a relatively straightforward process&comma; almost a singular event&period; The reality is that&comma; for many of us&comma; it’s a confusing&comma; grueling&comma; depressing&comma; kick in the face that some people never leave&period; Rather than getting a job&comma; settling down&comma; starting a family&comma; all the cliches and expectations of &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;adulting&comma;” many of us just wander listlessly through life&comma; clinging to the things and people that feel the safest and the most familiar&period; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;imdb&period;com&sol;name&sol;nm3364270&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">David Campion’<&sol;a>s <em>Straight Through Crew<&sol;em> &lpar;2025&rpar; is a thought-provoking examination of that grey area between youth and adulthood &lpar;in its purest form&rpar;&comma; as well as the destructive yet alluring crutch of drugs and alcohol we use to get through it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The story largely revolves around Aden &lpar;Charles Craddock&rpar;&comma; who has visions of himself wandering through a forest&comma; catching glimpses of a woman disappearing behind the trees&period; He wakes up in a bathtub to find his pants soiled and his head pounding from the night before&period; His girlfriend&comma; Fran &lpar;Georgia MacLeod&rpar;&comma; asks him to pick her up from work&comma; and he gives a reluctant thumbs-up&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>From here&comma; we encounter various members of the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;crew&comma;” including Jamie &lpar;Jessica Pearce&rpar;&comma; Aden’s ex&comma; who&&num;8217&semi;s returning home from London for the holidays&period; Her homecoming introduces us to the small town of Ludgershall&comma; where the rest of their friend group remains&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Deanna &lpar;Conchita Mbuyambo&rpar; and Lisane &lpar;Laura Hall&rpar; welcome Jamie back to Ludgershall&comma; while Aden and Richie &lpar;Jason Rosato&rpar; sit in a car in the woods somewhere&comma; smoking weed&comma; recovering from the night before&comma; and preparing to score some &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;gear” for the night’s Christmas Eve festivities&period; Aden and Jamie are both made aware of the other’s presence through the grapevine&comma; and neither seems eager for the reunion&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Christmas Eve festivities ensue&comma; gear is secured&comma; and just about everybody in the crew proceeds to get smashed on a variety of substances&period; As appears to be customary&comma; Aden does too much of just about everything he can get his hands on&comma; requiring Richie and the rest of the group to track him down&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2025&sol;07&sol;Screenshot-2025-07-28-at-10&period;41&period;19-PM-1024x577&period;png" alt&equals;"Aden and Richie getting high in Straight Through Crew &lpar;2025&rpar;" class&equals;"wp-image-2933"&sol;><figcaption class&equals;"wp-element-caption">Richie and Aden get high&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><em>Straight Through Crew<&sol;em> is a timely examination of the current crop of in-betweeners&comma; which&comma; to me&comma; is anyone in their mid-20s and 30s&period; This particular group has stayed in the safety of Ludgershall&comma; despite feeling bored&comma; directionless&comma; and compelled to drown their sorrows away at every chance&period; Jamie was the one who found the courage to &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;escape&comma;” only to discover that London &lpar;and adulthood&rpar; was not all it was cracked up to be&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Tensions heighten as the alcohol and drugs flow freely&comma; and old love is rekindled&comma; albeit briefly&period; Naturally&comma; the drugs and alcohol only keep boredom away for so long&comma; and the comedown makes everyone&comma; particularly Aden&comma; feel worse than before&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2025&sol;07&sol;Screenshot-2025-07-28-at-10&period;27&period;52-PM-1024x567&period;png" alt&equals;"Straight Through Crew film" class&equals;"wp-image-2934"&sol;><figcaption class&equals;"wp-element-caption">Aden loses control at the Christmas Eve party&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Many aspects of the film are highly reminiscent of <em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;2014&sol;04&sol;18&sol;trainspotting-analysis-and-the-dilemma-of-scottish-national-identity&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">Trainspotting<&sol;a><&sol;em> &lpar;1996&rpar;&period; In my view&comma; there’s just about no higher praise I can give to a film&period; A bunch of restless 20-somethings and 30-somethings feel like they have nothing better to do than get wasted&comma; but it comes at a cost&period; Just like Spud&comma; Aden shits himself after too much partying&period; Just like Mark Renton&comma; Aden gets too high and comes dangerously close to overdosing&period; Funnily enough&comma; writer&sol;director David Campion even makes an appearance as Aden’s drug dealer&comma; much like Irvine Welsh appeared as the drug dealer in <em>Trainspotting<&sol;em>&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Visually&comma; Director of Photography Tom O’Keefe also strikes a chord that lands somewhere between Danny Boyle’s lifeless depiction of Scotland in <em>Trainspotting<&sol;em> and Gaspar Noé’s drug-fueled&comma; kaleidoscopic vision of Tokyo in <em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;amzn&period;to&sol;45pjGFl" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow">Enter the Void<&sol;a><&sol;em> &lpar;2009&rpar;&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>It would be unfair only to compare <em>Straight Through Crew<&sol;em> to other films&comma; especially films with much larger budgets&period; <em>Straight Through Crew<&sol;em> is certainly an indie film&comma; but the budget doesn’t hold it back like I’ve seen with so many other films as of late&period; I was never taken out of the film by jarring cuts&comma; poor writing&comma; badly-delivered lines&comma; or amateur camera work&period; I’m happy to say that it was quite the opposite&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>David Campion&comma; and his cast and crew&comma; produced something truly remarkable with this film&period; An ode to feckless addiction&comma; with characters who are overwhelmed by their emotions and yet feel nothing&period; Superb acting&comma; writing&comma; editing&comma; and visual effects make this piecemeal narrative so engaging that I would recommend it to anyone with a love for the art of filmmaking&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2025&sol;07&sol;Screenshot-2025-07-28-at-11&period;18&period;49-PM-1024x571&period;png" alt&equals;"Charles Craddock as Aden" class&equals;"wp-image-2937"&sol;><figcaption class&equals;"wp-element-caption">Aden nears an overdose on Christmas Eve&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The story moves through a single day in the lives of small-town Brits&comma; yearning for something more out of this world&period; There are some revelations&comma; though I don’t get the impression that these characters will change&period; In fact&comma; it’s pretty clear that they won’t alter their behavior in any meaningful way&comma; at least not anytime soon&period; They’ve come face-to-face with their own mortality&comma; the arduous act of existing&comma; knowing all the while that someday&comma; they’ll all be in the ground&period; The &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;eternal sleep&comma;” as Fran calls it&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>It would be easy for some to write <em>Straight Through Crew<&sol;em> off as directionless or meaningless&comma; but just like every great film that focuses on heavy substance abuse&comma; that’s kind of the point&period; Life is directionless&comma; life is meaningless&comma; until we give it direction and meaning&period; Sometimes it works&comma; and sometimes it doesn’t&period; Sometimes&comma; the fear of even trying is enough that it’s easier to just pop a pill&comma; crack open a beer&comma; and get numb&period; The film shows the inevitable consequences of these choices&comma; but it also shows why and how it’s so easy to fall into them&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>That’s why I think David Campion has hit on something so basic to our nature&comma; particularly in the 21st century&period; Young people&comma; and people entering that horrible time between youth and adulthood&comma; when all the questions are still left unanswered&comma; are all so bored&comma; tired&comma; and indifferent that to just feel chemically &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;good&comma;” even for a moment&comma; is worth wasting away one&&num;8217&semi;s life&period; It’s the ultimate existential question of our times&colon; <em>If everything is so fucked up&comma; why not get fucked up&quest;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size">Straight Through Crew &lpar;2025&rpar; Movie Rating&colon; &starf;&starf;&starf;&starf;&half; out of 5<&sol;h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>If you’d like to watch <em>Straight Through Crew <&sol;em>&lpar;2025&rpar;&comma; the film is currently available to <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;amzn&period;to&sol;3IIlTmG" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow">rent or purchase via Amazon US or UK<&sol;a>&period; You can also follow the film’s production company on Instagram <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;instagram&period;com&sol;blackmathpictures&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow">&commat;blackmathpictures<&sol;a>&period; For more film reviews like this one&comma; be sure to check out the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;">Philosophy in Film homepage<&sol;a>&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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