Sket

A sket is a nasty girl, and this film is skettish.

This oestrogen and adrenaline fuelled female-Shank UK film is a girl hoody gang drama.

Capturing female youth gang culture the film is low budget and aspiring to Noel Clarke films (Kidulthood, Shank, 4321 etc) but falls way short, being an awful ITV drama escapade.

Amid the niche market subject matter lies some credible acting. The film is character-rich, visual, menacing and real. It is slightly better than average independent film making titles UK style, being a small drama for the under 25's.

Skank = rough and ready, but ultimately 80% poor. A

This movie was exactly what I expected and had hoped for after seeing the trailer. It may not be a cinematic masterpiece, but I did enjoy watching very much.

I thought that Aimee Kelly's portrayal of Kayla was convincing and very easy to empathize with. Ashley Walters was also a good antagonist.

I didn't find this movie "Gripping" or "Electrifying", and certainly not "Insanely Powerful" as the case would suggest. Still, I do recommend this film to anyone that thought the trailer looked good. It is part of a very specific genre of film, one for which I haven't heard a specific name. It feels a bit like the UK shows "Skins" and "Misfits", both of which I also enjoyed, were melded together for this film to make a longer episode or TV movie.

Growing up in London I know full well the lifestyles of many depicted in this cinematic experience. But as I get older these hood films become more harder to watch. Ashley Walters proves his diversity from previous leading roles in Bullet Boy and Sugarhouse, that he can be a convincing antagonist. Not to drift off topic from the movie itself, but I feel that since the release of Kidulthood there seems to be a trend with these gritty street flicks throughout the past decade.

With that being said this flips the script with the majority of the female cast showing the unfortunate lives of young women in Britain. It's a shame that the events that take place in this storyline aren't that far-fetched from the reality we are surrounded by worldwide.

It's honest in its depiction of bullying, drug addiction and sex labour whilst providing a cleverly told plot with a soundtrack mirroring the visual anarchy. Recommend for those with a strong stomach, not that there's any gore in this picture..but it will challenge your ideals of a peaceful world.

There are a few truly empowering films on the market. This one is just brilliant.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Kayla (Aimee Kelly) has moved with her older sister from Newcastle to a rough area of South London after the death of their mother. After finding herself hassled on the top deck of a bus by a couple of lads, a rough girl gang at the back, lead by Hannah (Lily Loveless) come to her aid. Needing new friends and naturally wanting to belong, Hannah tries to fall in with this group after completing an initiation. However, when her sister is brutally murdered by vicious local gang lord Trey (Ashley Walters) it sets her on her own course of retribution that could have deadly consequences.

On the surface, Sket does everything it says on the tin. It sets out to tell a very unpleasant, depressing story, shot in as drained and grainy a way as it can, with nothing in the way of humour or light (save for an unintentional gut buster in which a portly henchman gives chase to Hannah only to comically run out of breath) with an obligatory pumping urban grime soundtrack blasting over it all, and this is exactly what it does. To criticise it for this would be akin to criticising the pope for being catholic. Sadly, Nirpal Bhogal's latest addition to the ever increasing 'chav' film staple from the Revolver Entertainment chain line that's been doing the rounds since Kidulthood can be complained about for more things than this.

It's got all the superficial stuff right, sadly the stuff under the surface lets the film down, with some very poorly written, unconvincing character development and a flimsy, weak story that fails to properly develop into anything and is equally poorly written. Running at under an hour and a half, it's run out of steam long before it's over. Kelly's lead character fails to convince as a shy girl who suddenly turns into a hard nut, even after her sister's killed, while Walters's constantly angry, aggressive villain is really no great stretch for him.

It's a shame, since if this had just been a bit better written, it could have really delivered all it's raw, unflinching potential. **