The Safdie brothers (Uncut Gems) deliver a striking, uncompromising depiction of life on the fringes and a stimulating rush of cinema. Drawn from the real-life experiences of its star Arielle Holmes, the film follows addict Harley living from fix to fix in a caustic metropolis. Evoking a woozy, t...

John LeTour is a drug courier with a wealthy Manhattan clientele. Following a series of murders involving the narcotics trade, and his supplier Ann’s decision to try and quit the business, John begins to reevaluate his life. Running into his old flame Marianne, he sees a chance to change for the ...

After being released from prison, drug-lord Frank White (Christopher Walken) faces a fight to keep his empire together. He decides to go for the jugular and employ the most brutal tactics to retain his prominence. But his unstable approach to business management threatens to take down the whole v...

Obeying the first rule – 'write what you know' - former youth worker turned filmmaker Henry Blake turns in an original, stylish debut feature which premiered at the 2019 BFI London Film Festival.

It exposes the urban-to-rural drugs system of the title, a network which exploits children to use as...

The British New Wave came a decade earlier than advertised with Robert Hamer's downbeat postwar thriller. In a dank East End of ration-book misery, dosshouses and black marketeering, a world-weary housewife is shaken by the sudden reappearance of an old lover, now an escaped convict on the run. R...

Tony (Peter Ferdinando) cuts an odd figure. Wandering the streets of his East London neighbourhood, he quietly observes the people around him, occasionally inviting an unlucky few back to his flat for some squash. Asking a prostitute for a cuddle or reeling off his extensive VHS collection, he is...

A devoted family man, Carrère’s life takes a crushing turn when he is arrested for financial fraud. Confined to a grimy cell with inmates guilty of far darker crimes, he soon discovers they all share a single desire: to escape. Hope emerges when the group uncover a book of black magic once wielde...

When Esse (Nicolas Duvauchelle, in his debut feature role) a young apprentice baker, loses his job, he is drawn in to a dark underworld of gangs and petty crime. Zonca delivers a raw and gripping portrait of life on the margins of society, as a boy on the verge of adulthood is pulled in by the t...

Narcotics officer Lulu (Didier Bezace) and his squad doggedly navigate the grimy underbelly of Paris, contending with red-tape, a lack of resources and an overwhelming in-tray. Co-written with a French police veteran, Michel Alexandre, Tavernier’s film avoids the clichés, delivering an authentic ...

In 1963 LA, two officers were kidnapped in a real-life hostage ordeal that ended with the brutal execution of one in a desolate onion field. Though the other cop escapes, he is forever marked by the traumatic event. As the two assailants appeal their death sentences, they find themselves entangle...

Franck, a door-to-door salesman married to Jeanne, is looking for a customer who owes money when he meets Mona, a teenager forced into prostitution by her rich and hateful aunt. Franck's wife leaves and his boss has him arrested for embezzlement. Mona pays back the money and suggests he kill her ...