Nobody tells us when we are young how difficult it is going to be to change. Transitions are the worst; we are ready to move from one thing to another but somehow the momentum just isn't there. This especially seems to be the case with men when they have to leave their buddies behind and strike out on their own.

Frank (Aidan Gillen) is a twenty-something who lives in a rundown neighborhood in London where he shares a flat with a friend. He works with Mike (Dean Lennox Kelly) and John (Tobias Menzies) designing programs for a TV quiz show. Frank never likes to tell people what he does for a living, feeling that just leads to a silly game of competition. One of Frank's problems, and others mention it as well, is that he worries too much about what others think. No wonder he's such an easy mark for panhandlers who work the streets outside his flat.

Although Mike is about ready to marry the woman he's been dating for six years, Frank has no one special. While toying with the idea of getting his own place, he meets Ruby (Kate Ashfield), a real estate agent. They slowly ease into a relaxed sexual relationship. But they come from different worlds. For example, when Ruby raves about Dostoevsky's classic novel, Frank claims to have read only the "crime" part and not the "punishment" part. Later he admits to having a hard time concentrating on things.

Writer and director Jamie Thraves keeps the drama focused on the Frank's fumbling, mood swings, and idiosyncrasies during this transitional stage in his life. Ruby provides him with the chance to square off against his temper tantrums, his lack of ambition, and his fear about the future. The magic moments in The Low Down are ordinary events that suggest larger meanings — a broken refrigerator door, a kiss that goes on forever, and a jet flying overhead. Near the end of this oddball film, we realize with Frank that a permanent sense of transition is one of the hallmarks of the era in which we live.