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By: Martyn Pedler
Date: 26th Mar 08
Format: Cinema
Mood: Make a therapy appointment now
What:
London to Brighton (2006) exclusive screening and Q&A with Christopher Ross
Where:
Previewing at ACMI Cinemas
When:
DVD out to rent or buy from April 10 through Siren Visual
Screening Wed April 2, 7pm
Official site:
Here
Win:
Thanks to Siren Visual, we have 10 double passes to the screening to give away. To enter, email win@threethousand.com.au with the subject line 'rough anti-flair'
London to Brighton hits the ground running. Kelly, a woman with a horror-show swollen eye, rushes a terrified young girl into a public bathroom. Kelly leaves to make enough money working the street to get them both to safety. The girl - clothes torn, makeup smudged - locks the stall and waits for the worst.
The movie is the stuff of Spielbergian fantasy for wannabe filmmakers. It's a first feature for Paul Andrew Williams, shot in only 19 days with everyone involved working for deferred payments - and it was hailed as the "Best British film of the year" by The Guardian.
It's a fairly pedestrian thriller plotline, and for most of its brief running time, the upper-class villains are barely two-dimensional, let alone three. The solidly naturalistic performances, however, recall the work of cinema stalwarts like Ken Loach and Mike Leigh, and it's refreshing to see pimps and criminals represented without the decade-old recycling of watered-down Trainspotting quirks.
The film's rough anti-flair gives it a weight that it doesn't necessarily earn - but gripping performances and grim attention to detail will drag you in while dragging you down.