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 couriers. Children like Tyler (Conrad Khan), adrift and so a perfect target for Simon (Harris Dickinson) to charm, befriend and recruit.
Tyler's rapid apprenticeship propels the story, which is persuasively brutal and corrosive. But Blake makes it authentic and sensitive too, and his film has huge heart and unexpected optimism beneath.
Up Next in Crime & Punishment
-
Silent Scream
1963: When Larry Winters violently murders a Soho barman in cold blood he is sentenced to life imprisonment. Within ten years he is addicted to prescription drugs and feared as Scotland's most violent inmate.
-
Diva
Stylish first feature from Jean-Jacques Beineix (Betty Blue) about a young Parisian postal worker (Frédéric Andréi) who secretly makes a bootleg recording of his favourite opera singer (Wilhelmenia Fernandez) performing. But the recording draws the attention of dangerous criminals as he become...
-
Once Were Warriors
An unemployed MÄori living in Auckland’s slums, heavy-drinking Jake has a violent temper that he takes out on his family and strangers alike - especially his wife, Beth. Their eldest son, Nig, has joined a gang; Boogie has been placed in foster care; and Grace retreats into her journal. The un...
