Ill Manors

Considering that a year ago I had never listened to a Ben Drew (Plan B) track, dismissing him out of hand as yet another rap/hiphop wannabe, and today regarding him as a genuine multi-talented prodigy is an honest tribute to his unbelievably versatile creativity.

Due in part to the perfect format of a rap narration, in part to the fact that this is a man with his finger FIRMLY on the pulse of a disaffected sector of society and in part to the unforgiving art and poetry of the writing, direction and art direction, I feel that this is a modern masterpiece.

Consider again that this is a directorial debut and was achieved on a budget of merely £100,000, it's almost genius.

John Cooper Clarke, rather surprisingly for me, adds the perfect complementary poetic touch; I had forgotten quite how uncompromising and bleak his words can be.

Reminiscent of Clockwork Orange in its brutal beauty,the story is realistic to the immorality and just plain incomprehension of the consequences within an "underclass" subculture, yet the characters are so finely drawn and portrayed that you feel not only sympathy, but you feel a part of their hopelessness and helplessness.

There was one scene I couldn't watch (no spoilers); watching with my 19 y o daughter, she remarked that it was the first time in a long time that a film had affected her emotionally. She is braver than me for doing so...as it is impossible to un-see anything, so I could not bring myself to watch.

Absolutely beautiful, sad, horrifying and harrowing. Ben Drew, I take my hat off to you and can't wait for the next thing to come out of your remarkable mind.

Listen to the narrator's warning at the opening of the film, because a rough and dangerous ride follows as the film unfolds.

The only reason that I'm able to write a coherent review of the film is because some, but not all, of the subject matter is entirely foreign to me and to most of the people who have been around me for most of my long, adult life.

The narration is in a foreign language (hip-hop) that I never learned at school, but I'm a quick learner. If you aren't - it'll be hard to work out what's going on in the confused and disjointed lives that confront you - but persevere.. because it will make sense - eventually. Learn the language of the narrator, because he's explaining what's happening as we shift back and forth in time.

Writer and Director Ben Drew / Plan B presents a shockingly realistic portrayal and insight into the hapless lives of the damaged individuals that we get to know in the course of the story.

If society, as a whole, has not got the message that comes out loud and clear from the film, it's 'Keep drugs, fireworks, sharp instruments and unloving care-takers away from young children - if you want a happy ending in the longer term'.

This film charts the everyday outcomes which follow early exposure to forbidden fruit and the inability of people to recover from exposure, later on in life - whether due to premature death or permanent, irreversible psycholgical damage. All the way through it's a long catalogue of unhappy endings without any hope of remission.

An old story, well-told; dressed up in the newest generation's clothes, sex, drugs and rock and roll.

I can only assume that people didn't like this film because it was too dark, or it simply wasn't their type of film.

If you like films like Kidulthood & Adulthood I can promise you will LOVE this.

I personally thought it was better than the above said films.

Not only was it very well produced and directed, the acting was top notch! I've never seen (or noticed) Ed Skrein in a film before, and he played his part perfectly - Totally believable, and basically a right nasty piece of work.

All the other parts were played excellently too(with maybe the exception of Kirby's character)

It had a great story that keeps you engrossed from beginning to end, it is shocking, harrowing,and some good humor was thrown in too.

After it finished, I text a handful of friends (who I knew would like it) and told them to watch it asap.

Nuff said, 10/10

The film is an incredibly accurate portrait of that kind of environment. It wasn't two-dimensional in that the characters weren't just purely evil – the good in them also showed. I've met all those characters in the course of my work. The little boys terrorised into joining the criminal network are just so real. It demonstrated what I keep telling people: don't say a child chooses to join a gang; there is no choice. The cycle of brutalisation, with kids brutalising kids, the girl fights, all of it is so accurate.

I want to get a copy of this film and deliver it to the prime minister and say: "This is another bit of your country that you don't talk about, you don't see, but nevertheless, large numbers of children and young people are trapped in this life." I've already spoken to an MP. I want to organise a showing in parliament. I'm going to call Plan B's people and see if they'll make it happen. For the past 16 years I've been trying to describe what these kids' lives are like. It's very difficult for people to visualise the way they live.

Plan B is clearly not content with just being a famous rapper/singer/actor, as he has now tried his hand at directing, with his debut film ill Manors being released in cinemas today. Set in East London, the film follows a series of characters from drug dealers to prostitutes to runaway single mothers as they all struggle to survive in their poverty stricken area. As you can guess, this is not a happy-go- lucky sort of film, but nevertheless it's a very good film.

The style taken is very much similar to Pulp Fiction (believe it or not), as each character gets their own little tale, and soon enough they begin to over-lap with one another, creating a sense of community, we see that everybody really does know each other, whether for good or bad. There is also a rapping narrator (played by Plan B himself) which really adds another dimension to the film, it sets itself apart from the usual ''urban drama'' with these little techniques. It's a very brutal film that doesn't hold back either, from violent murders to a woman being pimped out for £10 at a kebab shop, we see it all within 121 mins.

Whilst it is an ''urban'' drama at the end of the day, the film does what Kidulthood/Adulthood/Shank could not do and has a go at actually trying to explore the reasons behind why people join gangs or decide to riddle their body with heroin. None of the central characters have parents, and the film suggests this lack of love creates the violence, it's essentially a film encouraging us to hug a hoodie. Outstanding performance goes to Riz Ahmed, who plays a gangster with some moral fibre trying to get out the area. The only negative is that the film tries to tell us too much, there's so many characters and stories happening that it's hard to keep track and some character get lost in the shuffle. But overall, recommended.

7/10