Between my first and second viewings of County Lines, the debut film from youth worker Henry Blake, a fatal turn of events went global. In a halcyon, pre-Covid February, I watched the film in the relative comfort of the BFI Southbank in London. People were spread apart because of low attendance rather than social distancing, likely due to the film’s tiny budget and horrifying subject-matter. I wrote at the time, in an early draft of this review, that it’s an underrated pleasure to watch a small and difficult film projected on a tall and luxurious screen.
Originally slated for April, County Lines is one of the first films to be released in cinemas after Lockdown 2.0, but only in Tier 1 and Tier 2 areas. I’m restricted to a Tier 3 zone, so perhaps the chance to see the film again in a cinema has dissolved. But for those living in the lower tiers,...
Originally slated for April, County Lines is one of the first films to be released in cinemas after Lockdown 2.0, but only in Tier 1 and Tier 2 areas. I’m restricted to a Tier 3 zone, so perhaps the chance to see the film again in a cinema has dissolved. But for those living in the lower tiers,...
- 11/30/2020
- by Euan Franklin
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Sullenly adrift between an unhappy childhood and an adult future that promises little, an introverted 14-year-old boy is lured all too easily into the world of county lines drug trafficking: a practice that sees vulnerable youths recruited by gangs to ferry drugs from cities to rural areas, with no protection on the other side. If the premise of Henry Blake’s taut, claustrophobic debut feature seems familiar, that’s because it’s built on ugly, unavoidable reality. Narratively, “County Lines” could have been ripped from any number of recent headlines anxiously tracking a growing social problem across Britain, but its tangible dead-end atmosphere, sharp sense of local geography and quietly expressive performances keep it from feeling like a teacherly PSA — and distinguish it from various glossier teen-terror dramas across the Atlantic.
Unveiled to a warm reception at last year’s London Film Festival — and recently screened in the Cannes digital...
Unveiled to a warm reception at last year’s London Film Festival — and recently screened in the Cannes digital...
- 6/27/2020
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
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