100 Streets

I strongly believe that reviews can take the magic out or embrace the greatness of any movie with a few paragraphs, so I will keep this simple. Having lived in London for several years, I have to admit I was positively prejudiced about the film from the very beginning. Nevertheless, it managed to meet and even surpass my already high expectations. The reason is simple.

It was a slick enjoyable movie with a distinctive message, life is life. You cannot plan every step of they way, there is always something unexpected luring to happen. It is true that characters were not as emotional as a person would want them to, in order for him/her to find their struggles relate-able. Maybe that was the plan all along, who knows? (the director, obviously). All I know is I spent a relaxing evening enjoying a fine film.

Despite a good cast who do their best the story is pretty weak and moves along very slowly. I'm usually a big fan of Idris Elba and Gemma Arterton but even they couldn't light it up.

Although this intense British drama is not for everyone, I felt it does offer some rewards if one sticks with it. It depicts various interconnected stories of Londoners and a roller coaster of human lives and emotions. The film can be dark and violent at times, but it can also be quite touching and uplifting as well.

Most of the characters here are flawed in one way or another, but I thought the ensemble cast portrayals were top notch. The director Jim O'Hanlon and screenwriter Leon F. Butler are making their feature film debuts here, but O'Hanlon does have extensive writing experience in television.

To note, this is an adult drama with explicit language throughout, one fairly explicit sex scene, drug and alcohol usage on screen, and one brief scene of nudity. I also should mention I had to use the subtitles here due to thick accents and slang usage.

Overall, this indie can be very uncomfortable to watch at times but I felt there are rewards here if the viewer sticks with it.

I realize the title does suggest a anthology of stories, In fact the movie technically should be called Three Streets as it contains three stories about three different people who you could say live on three different streets in London (talking more socially and culturally) .

From the trailer, I was expecting just one street with Idris Elba and Gemma Arterton. That could have been just me knowing who these two people are and just focusing on that part or it could have been a trailer met to draw in Americans with two faces we would recognized.

Either way, Elba and Arterton's street take a side step for me, as the most interesting street was about a guy named Kingsley (Played by a British face that I've seen before but can't place) who just got out of jail and does not want to go back into the life of a drug dealer so he gives acting a try after befriending one, but the streets keep trying to pull him back in (Oh wait, this dude is Firestorm on the series, The Flash).

The other story was a touching love story about a loving couple who are having trouble extending their family though adoption.

But I say all this not to suggest that Elba's performance as an Ex-Rugby player dealing with life off the field, which causes him to screw up royally with his wife (Played by Arterton), was not a great moment in the film, I mean it's Idris Elba, but it was not my favorite.

100 Streets three stories work very well as a whole movie and it's worth seeing.

http://cinemagardens.com

Review: This is a decent films, about 3 different situations, which spiral out of control, on the streets of London. Idris Elba plays a successful ex-England captain, who is forced to leave the family home after his wife, Emily (Gemma Arterton), finds out about his various affairs and wild party life. Without his wife by his side, he soon becomes lonely, and he misses his 2 young kids, so he tries his utmost to rekindle his damaged relationship with his wife, who is in two minds. The second story is about a young teenager, Kingsley (Franz Drameh), who sells drugs whilst living on a council estate with his mother and sister but he craves a new life on stage, with his poetry. When he bumps into Terence (Ken Scott), whilst doing community service, they soon becomes friends, even though they come from 2 completely different worlds. Terence points Kingsley in the right direction for a better life but he is dragged down by his criminal surroundings. The final story is about a taxi driver, George (Charlie Creed-Miles), who is trying to adopt a child with his girlfriend Kathy (Kierston Wareing). After George runs over a cyclist, he becomes a recluse, which puts a strain on his relationship and there abilities to become parents. I did find the movie quite entertaining and the performances were believable but it's not the type of film that you would watch twice. I didn't really see the point of the taxi driver story, and I thought the director would have joined the various stories together but with that aside, it's a watchable movie which covers many different elements. Idris Elba did stand out from the rest, especially when he suffered his breakdown but I found it quite predictable and the storyline wasn't that original. Average!

Round-Up: This movie was directed by Jim O'Hanlon, 46, who has directed mostly for TV. Some of the programs include Coronation Street, Bad Girls, The Bill, Casualty, Walking The Dead and Shameless but this is his first movie that was made for the big screen. Now that Idris Elba has become a worldwide star, I'm sure that the director felt lucky to get him on board for this project, which was why he gave him the most emotional role. It still felt like it was made for TV but with such a low budget, the director done a decent job.

Budget: £3million Worldwide Gross: N/A

I recommend this movie to people who are into their dramas, starring Gemma Arterton, Idris Elba, Tom Cullen, Kierston Wareing, Ken Scott, Charlie Creed-Miles and Ryan Gage. 4/10