Urban Hymn

At the time of London riots in 2011, Jamie (Letita Wright), a misfit teenager living in a care home, is isolating with her equally wayward friend, Leanne (Isabella Laughland). They live in a children's home, but when an idealistic care worker (Shirley Henderson) grieving her own loss recognises a singing talent in Jamie, she also realises that she must separate her from Leanne in order for her to develop.

A drama that does a decent and sincere job in highlighting and recognising the problems of poverty and depravation, but alac does not run with this thread enough, instead drawing on sentimentality and satisfying itself with being a standard story without developing the social aspect.

With cheesy teenage films coming out in the main stream I found it incredibly refreshing to get the opportunity to see the authentic and honest independent drama "Urban Hymn". This raw movie is about a troubled teen (Letitia Wright) who gets mentored by altruistic social worker (Shirley Henderson) who persuades her to take her talents of singing and performance and seek a healthy and successful life with it. This impactful movie opened my eyes to the importance of helping someone in need and the dangers of being around toxic and manipulative people. I genuinely feel that this coming-of-age film has so many valuable lessons revolving around never giving up, following your own passion, and accepting help from those open to giving it. I enjoyed seeing how Jamie and Kate (Shirley Henderson) friendship become stronger over time and I think it was incredibly meaningful that Jamie uses Kate's life advice and lessons to help her live the life she is entitled to even after Kate is gone. Another meaningful scene was when Jamie's (Letitia Wright) reckless friends barge in to Jamie's chorus group and make fun of the class, and Jamie tells them to leave and stands up for herself and the other chorus singers. It shows how much character development she has gone through and made me so excited to see her character transform in such a positive way. I loved every minute of this heart-wrenching and I highly recommend you taking the time to watch this!

Jamie is alone in the World except for her best mate Leanne (who is a sort of South London hard nut) and they have gotten on the wrong side of the tracks. This is against the backdrop of the riots in London of 2011 which they took advantage of.

Anyway they are in a Council run care home when a new social worker turns up who is determined to make a difference and then sees music as a possible way to reach out to Jamie to save/help her.

Now a lot of these themes have been used before – falling in with the wrong crowd, nurture versus nature and the idea that all the 'kids' need to find their way out of the gutter is one piece of inspiration; whether it be baseball, rap music or macramé. But this seems to do it with a fresh twist and the music is all great too.

Do not expect anything too 'gritty' either this is all a bit sanitised but it still has enough of an 'edge' to make it pack a punch albeit not a 'sucker' one.

What a breathtaking film! Urban Hymn is a powerful and heart-wrenching story of an inner-city teenager named Jamie Harrison, broken from her harrowing journey thus far. Jamie discovers her purpose in life through the grace and generosity of social worker Kate Linton, as she leads Jamie toward the power of music. Jamie then reveals to have a stunning voice that astonishes all who have only known her for pillaging and being an overall miscreant. Her troubled past life seems to get in the way of her newfound hope for a better life for herself, namely her degenerate best friend Leanne whose selfish attempts to keep Jamie from following her dream results in a shocking twist at the end of the film. From a cinematographic standpoint, the aesthetic of the multiple shots of Kate running through the park in London on a cloudy day matches the tone of film so perfectly. I think the thing that really makes this film stand out is its actors' incredible performances. They are so transparent and passionate; the story itself is such a classic turnaround coming of age story, but it is so beautifully and organically illustrated through these unique characters. This thrilling and complex film is definitely a must-see!

Excellent!

'Urban Hymn' is much more heartfelt and meaningful than I thought it would be. It avoids doing the usual, over-the-top thing of making every kid in the film a wannabe gangster and making them all silly criminals. Don't get me wrong, it does have shades of that but I feel it portrays it in a much more subtle manner than most films of this type do.

The cast are brilliant. Letitia Wright gives a superb performance as Jamie, I believed in her character from the get-go; which is thanks to the writing et al. but also to Wright. Isabella Laughland as Leanne is very good, as is Shirley Henderson as Kate. The support cast are also well chosen.

One thing I will note is that the film does peak a little too early. The first half of it is fantastic, as is the rest all in all but it does drop off slightly once everything's been understood. It is also somewhat predictable, though that's not a negative thing if the production makes it work - which this does.

Well worth your viewing time. A weighty story with a convincing cast.