London to Brighton

Gritty Dramas are not usually my thing, but I saw this by chance and was very impressed by it. It's nearly impossible to make a first feature film. It's nearly impossible to make it good on as tight a budget as this was obviously shot on. The fact that it was made in such a short time is also another factor to be considered. And my consideration, after taking all these factors in to account is, this is brilliant! It is a strong story with plenty of moral interest, it has strong performances and a nicely done twist. I wish Paul every success with whatever he does next! He is a directing and writing talent to watch out for!

The fact that the Edinburgh International Film Festival bestowed their New Director award on Paul Andrew Williams is a solid enough indicator of the strengths and unique qualities of London TO BRIGHTON. Admittedly made on a shoe-string budget, and cast with relative unknowns, the film never once looks cheap or out of its depth. I was amazed when I saw it at Edinburgh by just how tough and unflinching a portrayal of the criminal underworld it is. The leads put in tremendous performances that will surprise many, and William's writing is exceptional. The film really zips along through its 90min length, and pulls the viewer in to a lock-tight embrace. In my opinion this film is one of the highlights of the year so far and a real find for the British film industry. For a first-time director working on a tiny budget, getting five star reviews in the Guarduan and Scotsman, and great praise from the Times is a hell of an achievement. I hope other people who love British cinema see it when it is theatrically released.

In a run-down public toilet in London at 3.07 am, the middle-aged prostitute Kelly takes on the 11-year-old runaway Joanne. Together they take the train from London to Brighton to escape Kelly's hard-edged pimp. The film explores the mother-daughter-like bond that forms between the girls as they are left to fend for themselves in the gritty underworld of South London.

Paul Andrew Williams has done something remarkably cool here that he did not realise until his film started receiving praise and wider distribution (it even made its way to the Stockholm International Film Festival, where I saw it). Nevertheless, we can easily tell that this is a quality film with excellent performances by its two leads Lorraine Stanley and young Georgia Groome. Although the seedy underground and hierarchies of bad guys, johns and pimps channel Guy Ritchie and Matthew Vaughn, director Williamsm stresses that London to Brighton is "not a gangster movie", but an unflinching look at the two aforementioned characters and how they cope under pressure.

The plot is left best unspoiled because it is gradually unfolded through well-positioned flashbacks, arguably the goldmine of the film. The first half of the film has a few pacing problems as nothing truly jumps out and grabs you – but when the unspeakably effective background segments are interjected London to Brighton receives a well-deserved jumpstarting kick up the arse, continuing down a perfectly-paced path. One of the most poignant scenes sees Kelly's pimp ask 11-year-old Joanne if she is a virgin, and subsequently telling her to have sex with an older man. The amount of smoking, cursing, screaming and beating that goes on around her is heartbreaking.

This would not be the case with a lesser actress. The fact is that Georgia Groome inhabits Joanne so effortlessly and deeply that it is a sight to behold. Her crying performances wrenches your heart. Other than the perfectly-cast Groome, the director told us that he applied no seriousness to finding the 'perfect people' for the respective characters: the guy in the green jeep, for example, was cast because "he had a green jeep". In this way a gritty, unpleasant and plain cast presents itself – an ordinary pack of South London criminals. Better yet, they truly emote. When Kelly and Joanne down the sour rum & coke that the older man has given them, you can feel the bitter aftertaste of the drink.

'London to Brighton' has been likened to Mike Leigh's Naked, and perhaps this is an apt comparison. What remains clear, however, is that Williams has served up a deliciously gritty and unflinching drama in the midst of chaos, which he occasionally pauses with wonderful slow-motion captures and dreamy shots of the windy barren boardwalk of Brighton. It's bruised, realistic, harrowing and compelling – a very good watch.

8 out of 10

The quiet in a London toilet is broken at 03:07 when a woman and a girl burst into it beaten and crying. The elder, Kelly, puts young Joanne into one of the cubicles and goes to get train tickets and some food. Not long after they are on a train to Brighton and safety. Meanwhile back in London, the cold criminal Stuart Allen makes it painfully clear to small time pimp Derek that he wants Kelly and Joanne brought to him.

I heard that this film was very grim stuff and as a result I skipped it in the cinemas, although I was "helped" in this decision by how quickly it came and went in the cinema. Watching it now I have to say that it is a shame that the film did not get more viewers because it an incredibly well delivered thriller set in a world of pimps and gangsters. This aspect could represent a turn-off to many viewers who perhaps have had enough of Lock Stock copycats in the British cinema, but rest assured that it is far from being that type of thing. Where some films revel in the gangster cliché, this film presents it unflinchingly as a cruel world of violence, grime and exploitation populated by those with few choices and no hope. This is convincingly delivered and it puts the viewer right into it to the point where I did feel uncomfortable and trapped.

The story is simple and what makes it so impressive is how it is delivered rather than just what happens. The strength of the film is in the edit, which brings out the story in a flashback structure that works very well. It allows for a strong finish and consistent tension that runs across both timelines of the film equally. What is almost as impressive as the edit are the performances that Williams gets from his cast; they are natural and convincing and all the bleaker for it. Stanley is brilliant as someone morally disgusted by her world but equally unable to think of anything else available to her. Groome is just as good and is heartbreaking in the way she moves from a child to an adult between scenes, with a confidence that is only on the surface. Harris is suitably morally bankrupt – a real "bad man", not a criminal with presence and power but the sort of man who would beat you for looking at him. Allen is a harder character because he does have to be a "crime lord" in this story of small fish but Spruell does pretty well to hold back and be a menacing force driving the story.

London to Brighton is not a cheerful film but it is a gripping thriller set in a convincing world of dirt and grubby people. The actors all convince and succeed in making us care for people giving £10 oral sex behind skips in the street but it is the structure and delivery of the story that makes it as good as it is, drawing tension simultaneously from both timelines of the same narrative. Grim but well worth it.

The plot of London to Brighton is simple, the budget minimal, the actors and writer/director unknown. But the result is an unexpectedly captivating movie.

London to Brighton follows a prostitute and a young run-away as they flee from their recent past: From London to Brighton, no less. Through a well-balanced series of flashbacks, we gradually learn how they came to be running. The movie's tension slowly builds as those who are chasing them draw closer. The premise isn't revolutionary, but the delivery is robust. Half the characters spend half the time not knowing what is happening around them. Like the best thrillers, there is still enough to keep the audience guessing right to the end.

The movie is underscored by a very British portrayal of urban mob violence - gritty and selectively brutal, with language to match. The characters are explored just enough to give the movie some depth.

The issues contained within the movie are morally challenging. While there is little explicit sexual content, the mere context will be enough to make some viewers uncomfortable. It would be easy to impose "middle-class" morality, but fortunately that doesn't happen. Instead the characters react only at the extremes: The prostitute with misgivings about sex involving very young children; not the prostitute with misgivings about prostitution.

London to Brighton is notable because it places a 13 year old actor in one of the leading roles. The performance is raw and the look of innocence genuine. Yet she portrays events and emotions that she can have no experience of with disturbing competence. To paraphrase the director, "she certainly won't be allowed to see the film when it released in the cinema".

The movie is rough round the edges. It drags in places. Sometimes the acting doesn't quite convey all the emotions it could do. It is easy to find fault in the detail. But overall London to Brighton is an impressive first feature by 'Paul Andrew Williams' and most of the cast.