London to Brighton (2006)

This hard hitting British drama from director Paul Andrew Williams is a brutally impressive piece of work. Williams has only directed a handful of films to date, he's probably best known for his work on ITV's Broadchurch in 2017. If you're familiar with the third series of the hit TV drama you'll notice some of his traits amongst the depleting mood of London To Brighton. The film begins in a dank and disgusting toilet cubicle in London at three in the morning. Through a wall of foul language we are introduced to prostitute Kelly, who is nursing a horrific swollen eye, and youngster Joanne, who claims her age is anything between eleven and fourteen throughout the film. Something has clearly gone badly awry for the pair of them, and we know the ballpark we're in immediately as Kelly forces Joanne to lock herself in the cubicle for an hour while she goes out to find a customer so she can earn the train fare for them both to head to Brighton where she has a friend. It becomes clear vier flashbacks why they're in this predicament; without giving to much away, they're essentially on the run from Kelly's pimp Derek (an excellent Johnny Harris). What makes London To Brighton so hard hitting and imposing is, of course the treatment of the two women throughout, but also the way in which Harris' portrayal of Derek makes you almost feel for him; he's been stabbed in the leg by his boss (a terrifying Sam Spruel) and told to hunt down Kelly and Joanne on pain of death. Lorraine Stanley and Georgia Groome are monumental as the two girls on the run, but Harris, despite being a horrible piece of work and a dreadful bastard (we see him seemingly pimping out his own girlfriend in an early scene) almost makes the film work himself as a middle man following horrific orders from an even worse bastard above him. He almost achieves our sympathies before constantly reminding us of what a horrible person he is. London To Brighton isn't for everyone, it reminded me very much of Hyena (2014), Gerard Johnson's nasty but effective British neo-noire drama, and to a certain extent Danny Boyle's Trainspotting (1996). But it demands to be seen if you can stomach it, it's probably one of the best British dramas of recent times, and I don't say that lightly. 8.1/10