The Lives of the Saints
Synopsis
The story unfolds in the cafés, clubs and shops of Green Lanes, where Mr Karva is the boss: a ridiculous yet dangerous man. Othello, his stepson, is the young pretender, palling around with his girlfriend Tina and his weak-willed lackey Emilio. Life revolves around socialising, gambling and trying to scrape a modest living.
But that lifestyle is about to be thrown into disarray by an otherworldly, sickly-looking 10-year- old child. Mr Karva's errand boy, Roadrunner, stumbles across the child in the park and offloads the bizarre find into Othello's basement.
Thus begins an exhilaratingly strange series of events. It seems that the child is able to grant others their innermost desires... Soon Othello's dreams of limitless wealth are becoming reality. And true to form, his tyrannical stepfather wants to muscle in on the action.
It's Paradise on the streets of north London, but family ties and relationships are becoming increasingly strained and as Mr Karva himself says, 'every Paradise got its serpent'. He persuades the unstable Emilio to take the matter into his own hands, and the tale plummets towards its tragic conclusion.
The Lives of the Saints is a truly original, modern-day fable, which warns that what we wish for is not always what we need.
Details
- Year
- 2006
- Type of project
- Features
- Running time
- 100 mins
- Format
- 35mm
- Director
-
Rankin, Chris Cottam 1st Feature
- Producer
- Augusto Romano
- Executive Producer
- Augusto Romano
- Editor
- Chris Gill
- Screenwriter
- Tony Grisoni
- Director of Photography
- Baz Irvine
- Sound
- David Lascelles
- Composer
- Rob Lane
- Principal cast
- James Cosmo, Marc Warren, David Leon, Emma Pierson, Bronson Webb, Sam MacLintock, Gillian Kearney, Daon Broni, James Cook, Jude Cook, Paddy Fletcher
Categories
Production Status
Production Company
Dazed Film & TV
112 Old StreetLondon EC1V 9BG
UK
T+44 (0)20 7549 6840
laura@confused.co.uk
Page updates
This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.
See also
You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.
VisionQuest
Director: Christopher J. Byrne, Gandja Monteiro, Vincenzo Natali, Terry Matalas
Year: 2026
Marvel Television’s VISIONQUEST is an all-new original series screening on Disney+, which concludes the epic trilogy that began with 2021’s ground-breaking, award-winning WANDAVISION and 2024’s acclaimed AGATHA ALL ALONG. Vision, rebooted and having escaped from those who sought to weaponise him, has been in hiding. Searching for new meaning, he consults the AI personas embedded in his programming, including Friday, Edith, Jarvis, and the infamous Ultron. His discreet existence ends when a bounty placed on his head thrusts him on the run with Thomas Shepard, a mysterious boy who may be Vision’s son, reincarnate. As Vision evades capture, he must confront his nature, resist Ultron's influence, and unravel the enigma that is his young companion if he’s to survive. VISIONQUEST is created for television by Terry Matalas, based on the Marvel Comics. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival Official Selection 2026
Date Night
Director: Tanya Reynolds
Year: 2026
Danielle and Harry's latest attempt at roleplay shines an uncomfortable light on what they really want from life. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2026
Sweet Bitter Sweet
Director: Nicolee Tsin
Year: 2026
Envy, a young Chinese woman searches for love while working at a bakery. When she secretly bakes a cake for her crush, her ideal fantasies of love are confronted by reality. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2026