London to Brighton (2008)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Let me start by saying that for the first 95% or so, I loved this movie. Gritty, fast-paced and the Joanne role was astonishingly well acted. But there is absolutely nothing that annoys me more than a good, realistic film with a joke ending like that. Why would the pedo's son go to all the trouble of terrifying and traumatizing the girl far more than his father likely did? If the kid didn't need years of therapy from being tied to a bed, she sure as hell did after being chased all over England, dragged to what she thought was her grave then seeing two people get their heads blown off. What was the point of that? Secondly, why was Kelly given a moral free pass from the director? She sure played a significant role in the kid being tied up by a pedophile. Take the scene where she's waiting while Joanne is upstairs. She only goes to help when she hears screaming. So what, it would have been OK if the pedo had just gone about the business of destroying a child quietly? Why wasn't she shot with the two thugs? I have no patience for the "she was a victim too and had no choice" argument. When confronted with destroying a child she had all kinds of choices- run away, take the beating from her pimp etc. Finally, this film strives to be realistic. Well, sorry to say it but in real-life Kelly and Joanne end up in an unmarked grave with bullets in the back of their heads. In real life, Kelly would be an addict willing to give up her kid sister, never mind some kid she's never met. It sucks but it's true and this would have been a more meaningful, more honest film with that ending rather than the laughable fairy-tale tacked onto this thing.

I was really looking forward to seeing this, and for the first hour or so I wasn't disappointed - good story, good acting, good use of flashbacks - but then... For me, this film seemed to paint itself into a corner as it got towards the end. Once we got to the scene in the field, at the end, we knew that he wasn't going to shoot Joanne, because of the heart-to-heart they'd had in the car. We also suspected that he wasn't going to shoot Kelly, if only because she'd been so sympathetically portrayed throughout. So we assume that he's going to shoot the pimp (because he'd been portrayed as thoroughly unsympathetic throughout). Which he does. Ho hum. At this point I was thinking "please don't cut to a shot of the girls on the train to Devon". Which he did. I really wanted to like this film, and I did at first, but then the story didn't seem to know what to do with itself, and couldn't find an ending to live up to its beginnings. To be fair, neither could I.

In 2001, Dr. Richard Estes and Dr. Neil Alan Weiner estimated that there are one million child prostitutes in the world and the average age of entry into prostitution is between 11 and 13. This disturbing subject has been largely ignored by the movies, with the exception of Lilya-4-Ever and Paul Williams' London to Brighton. Containing stellar performances by Lorraine Stanley as Kelly, a street-smart prostitute, and Georgia Groome as Joanne, an 11-year-old runaway, London to Brighton is a low budget but gritty, uncompromising thriller that dramatizes the lives of two young prostitutes, the predators who prey on them, and the criminal underworld of British society.Though it is sometimes hard to watch because of the graphic violence, the film conveys a sense of humanity that shines through the despair. As London to Brighton begins, two hysterical young girls hide in a public toilet in London's Victoria Station in the middle of the night The younger girl, possibly only 11 or 12, her face smeared with lipstick and bruises, cries copious tears while the older, chubbier girl tries to comfort her though her own face is a mass of welts and black and blue marks. Both girls are hiding from their pimp Derek (Johnny Harris) and his client Stuart Allen (Sam Spruell) after a botched job in which the client's father, Duncan Allen (Alexander Morton) died in the client's apartment.It began when Kelly, on orders from Derek, went scouting for an underage girl to match the needs of his wealthy client. Now on the run, Kelly leaves Joanne in the rest room while she does some "work" to obtain money to visit a safe house in Brighton. The film unfolds in a non-linear fashion and we gradually learn the sordid details in flashbacks. As the girls head to Brighton to take cover, Derek and his cohort Chum (Nathan Constance), forced to take action against the girls before they have to pay the price themselves, are determined to track them down.Recently released on a subtitled DVD that includes a commentary by the director and others, an alternate ending, and eight deleted scenes, London to Brighton packs a wallop. Energy and tension adorn the film from start to finish, a span of only 85 minutes. Though some of the scenes indicate a sense of lost hope, in the courage and loving protectiveness of Kelly and the childlike innocence of Joanne, there is also a sense of possibility. Winner of the Best New Director Award at the Edinburgh Film Festival with a style reminiscent of the raw immediacy of Shane Meadows and the social awareness of Ken Loach, Paul Williams in London to Brighton has delivered an outstanding first feature.

I remember This Is England being one of the most realistic British films I had ever seen, and I felt the same satisfaction after finishing this powerful crime drama. Basically prostitute Kelly (Lorraine Stanley) with twelve-year-old newcomer Joanne (Georgia Groome) are on the run heading to from London to Brighton after doing something terrible. Originally Kelly's pimp Derek (Johnny Harris) with associate Chum (Nathan Constance) are in pursuit of them, with orders to find them by mobster Stuart Allen (Sam Spruell). As the girls hide out and the boys try to find them, we see what the girls did through a series of flashbacks. Derek needed to find a twelve-year-old girl to perform sexual acts for mobster Duncan Allen (Alexander Morton), Stuart's father, and Kelly found Joanne on the streets. After being offered a good amount of money Joanne accepts her job, she and Duncan get together, but Kelly stops them when he was attempting to rape her, and they kill him. So Derek and Chum eventually find the girls in Brighton, take them to a meeting place where Stuart is, and you'd expect him to want to kill the girls after the boys dig their graves, but actually he kills the boys, and the girls are let go. Also starring David Keeling as Charlie, Jamie Kenna as Tony, Chloe Bale as Karen and Claudie Blakley as Tracey. Young Groome is very good, Stanley is superb, and Harris is menacing, as with This Is England the performances and story is so realistic it is disturbingly good. It was nominated the BAFTA for the Carl Foreman Award for the Most Promising Newcomer for director Paul Andrew Williams. Very good!