I must admit that 45 minutes in I wanted to switch this off. It was almost unbearably depressing and grim, however I am glad I stuck with it through to the end.
I don't know if this depicts normal life in inner city London or not but from news reports I wouldn't imagine it was million miles away. The film paints a bleak picture of people stuck in an almost lose lose situation although of course ultimately you shape your own destiny in life.
For a directorial debut this is amazingly assured. I have not a fan of Plan B as it's not really my music taste but he is obviously a hugely talented guy. The film follows various people and their stories throughout the film and these gradually intertwine. The fact that all the stories are interesting as well is also impressive as you rarely get this in movies that mingle multiple stories.
The film boasts a largely unknown cast which makes the almost uniformly excellent performances all the more staggering. There is little of the usual cockney wide boy caricature to be seen here. I felt the performances of Riz Ahmed and Anouska Mond were particularly good.
The film in many ways reminded me of Trainspotting but with an even darker edge and the film is almost on a par with that one.
This is a brutal and tough film to watch but one which really pays off with a great ending. This by word of mouth will end up being a cult classic of that i'm pretty sure.
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