I saw Bullet Boy at a preview screening by Verve Pictures; I had been given the tickets and didn't know what to expect. The only thing I knew was that the main part was played by a member of So Solid Crew, Asher D (Ashley Walters), and so I was maybe a bit sceptical as to his acting abilities.
Ultimately, however, this film was brilliant: shocking, tender, wonderfully acted and beautifully directed. The dialogue is convincingly authentic and the camera work evoked a documentary. Ashley Walters is outstanding, his physical presence on film given weight by his subtle performance; Luke Fraser shines as his younger brother Curtis. The pervading sense that it is all going to end in an horrific manner, is tempered by the feeling at the end that there is also some hope for the future in the form of the younger boy, who attempts to escape from the endless cycle of gun crime.
I came out of this film with a sense of the huge disparity between different people's experiences of London; there's no glimpse of Richard Curtis here. It's an urgent and heart-breaking wake-up call about the realities of gun crime in the UK.
Go to see this.
Ultimately, however, this film was brilliant: shocking, tender, wonderfully acted and beautifully directed. The dialogue is convincingly authentic and the camera work evoked a documentary. Ashley Walters is outstanding, his physical presence on film given weight by his subtle performance; Luke Fraser shines as his younger brother Curtis. The pervading sense that it is all going to end in an horrific manner, is tempered by the feeling at the end that there is also some hope for the future in the form of the younger boy, who attempts to escape from the endless cycle of gun crime.
I came out of this film with a sense of the huge disparity between different people's experiences of London; there's no glimpse of Richard Curtis here. It's an urgent and heart-breaking wake-up call about the realities of gun crime in the UK.
Go to see this.