Pretty Red Dress

I decided to see this film as it was the best of a rather bad lot on general release this week.

I have to say that I was grateful for the subtitles as I am hard of hearing and so otherwise I would not have been able to understand the dialogue.

I would have to say that I do not form part of the target audience for this film. So it was inevitable that I would become festive about an hour in,but I remained to the bitte!r in.

It was one of those films where if anything can go wrong it will do so,this there is an air of predictability and inevitability about the course of the narrative. I get rather bored at characters who constantly swear at each other.

I was really disappointed in this film. The trails suggested a cutting edge drama about a man challenging the norms of his community but what we actually get is an over-scripted, not very well acted, family melodrama. "Travis" (Natey Jones) returns home after a spell in prison to his wife "Candice" (Alexandra Burke) and teenage daughter "Kenisha" (Temilola Olatunbosun). "Candice" has an audition to play in a Tina Turner musical and has her eyes on a spangly red dress. It's expensive, but "Travis" manages to find a job with his brother and manages to buy it for her. She loves it, but, well... so does he. At this stage we begin to sense that he has some identity fluidity issues, but that is best kept under wraps for fear it will not be well received by his family, nor by their friends. It's only when "Candice" comes home unexpectedly one evening that the relationship dynamic suddenly changes for all of them. The premiss is bold - it does aim fairly and squarely at bigotry and homophobia, but the execution is slow and ponderous. Alexandra Burke is a great singer but she is not a great actress and as the ever more contrived family shenanigans mount up - including some issues for the young "Kenisha" - the thrust that made the film interesting in the first place gets rather lost. Jones is adequate, but again his character is largely undeveloped with little of a backstory to give us a sense of just how this relationship evolved, and ultimately I just think Dionne Edwards relied a little too much on the shock value of the thread and of audience assumptions rather than develop this into something more powerful. It's watchable, bit misses the goal I'd say.

Alexandra Burke is just brilliant in this. I am often sceptical when someone that isn't naturally an actor dips their toes into trying to act but I really think Alexandra has a future in films and I hope this serves as an introduction to her talents. However the film itself possibly lets her down in places. I thought it was a little predictable and therefore disappointing at times. That is not to say that I didn't enjoy it and I would recommend seeing it. I suppose it helps if you're a Londoner and would maybe find it a little more relatable. Very sweary throughout, which has its place in some films yet seems gratuitous in others. I was really curious about this one but overall a good experience.

I went to go and watch this film for free as I am a member at Picturehouse. As a crossdresser/gender explorer myself. All I can say is finally we have some accurate representation in the media! I could relate to a lot in this film, and it was beautiful to watch. It's a film that explores masculinity, gender expression, and family issues. Every character is relatable in their own way. I wasn't too sure at first about Alexandra Burke's acting but as the film went on I was certainly impressed. Ignore the negative reviews about this film, it deserves a much higher score. Thankyou for making the film we very much needed!

A beautiful, heart warming and enjoyable debut film from Dionne Edwards, with brilliant performances from the whole cast, especially Alexandra Burke, Natey Jones & Temilola Olatunbosun. Deftly explores masculinity, family dynamics and gender expression. Was particularly impressed with AB as I had not seen her act before but she really pulled it out of the bag. South London makes the perfect setting for the film and its beauty is on full display. Lots of fantastic music throughout.

Important for these stories to be told, now more than ever. Deserves to have a wide audience and lots of success...