London To Brighton
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''London to Brighton'' is a 2006 British
neo-noir Neo-noir is a film genre that adapts the visual style and themes of 1940s and 1950s American film noir for contemporary audiences, often with more graphic depictions of violence and sexuality. During the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the term ...
crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...
film written and directed by
Paul Andrew Williams Paul Andrew Williams (born 1973 in Portsmouth, England) is a British film writer and director. He won the New Director's Award for his film '' London to Brighton'' in the 2006 Edinburgh International Film Festival The Edinburgh International ...
released to generally mixed to average critic reviews but was a
box office failure A box-office bomb is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the combined production budget, marketing, and distribution costs exceed the revenue after release has te ...
, grossing $449,700 on a budget of $639,200.


Plot

The film opens with a woman and child, Kelly and Joanne, bursting into a
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
toilet stall. Joanne is crying and Kelly has a black eye. Eventually Kelly gets them on a train to
Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...
, and it is clear they are running from someone. Joanne is an eleven-year-old runaway who is procured by a reluctant Kelly into having sex with an old violent mobster who is a
paedophile Pedophilia ( alternatively spelled paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of pube ...
. Kelly's
pimp Procuring, pimping, or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp (if male) or a madam (if female, though the term "pimp" ...
, Derek, bullies her into complying, but it all goes horribly wrong, and the old mobster is killed, presumably by one of the girls. The older man's son, Stuart, then forces Derek to find the girls. The film follows the duo's flight from London in the wake of what has happened. Arriving initially in Brighton, Kelly visits her friend Karen and tries to earn enough money through prostituting herself to help Joanne afford the train to
Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...
, where the child's grandmother lives. The two are eventually tracked down by her pimp and his associate and taken to meet Stuart at a secluded field. Upon arrival, Kelly's pimp and associate are made to dig two graves, presumably for the girls. However, Stuart decides that the girls are the victims in this episode and decides instead to kill Kelly's pimp and associate. The film ends with Kelly and Joanne arriving at Joanne's grandma's house in Devon. Kelly watches from a distance as the girl and the grandmother hug, then turns away.


Main cast

* Lorraine Stanley as Kelly * Georgia Groome as Joanne *
Sam Spruell Sam Spruell (born 1 January 1977, in Southwark, London) is a British actor. Early life and education Spruell studied at Hull University before turning to acting. His mother is actress Linda Broughton. Career Theatre He made his stage debut wit ...
as Stuart Allen * Alexander Morton as Duncan Allen * Johnny Harris as Derek * Chloe Bale as Karen *
Claudie Blakley Claudie Blakley (born 4 January 1974) is an English actress. She trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama. In 1998, she won the Ian Charleson Award for her performance in ''The Seagull'' at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds. She ...
as Tracey * Nathan Constance as Chum


Reception


Box office

The film's box office earnings grossed $449,700, with $6,700 in its opening weekend of U.S. & Canada of 10 February 2008.


Critical response

The film received generally positive reviews from critics. The
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
reports that the film has a 67% approval rating, based on 27 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "With its grimy sets, taut storyline, and relentless sense of doom, ''London to Brighton'' is an auspicious directorial debut by Paul Andrew Williams."
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
reports that the film has an average score of 55 out of 100, based on seven critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


Awards and nominations

The film won a British Independent Film Award for Best Achievement in Production. Williams won the Golden Hitchcock award at the Dinard Festival of British Cinema, the New Director's Award at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Best Feature Film at the Foyle Film Festival, and a Jury Prize at the Raindance Film Festival.


See also

*'' Vidiyum Munn'', a 2013 Indian film inspired by ''London to Brighton''


References


Further reading

* Stella Hockenhull, "An Aesthetic Approach to Contemporary British Social Realism: ''London to Brighton''", Film and Romantic special issue, Jeffrey Crouse (ed.), ''Film International'', Vol. 7, No. 6, December 2009


External links


London to Brighton official website – Web Archive
* * *

guardian.co.uk, 30 April 2007
London to Brighton
Times Online, 30 November 2006
London To Brighton (2006)
BBC – Movies, 24 November 2006

Timeout London, 29 November 2006
London to Brighton – Trailer
''YouTube'' {{Paul Andrew Williams 2006 films British crime thriller films Films set in Brighton Films set in London Films about prostitution in the United Kingdom Films about social realism UK Film Council films Vertigo Films films 2006 crime thriller films 2000s English-language films 2000s British films English-language crime films Films scored by Laura Rossi English-language crime thriller films