County Lines
What we're watching
•
D (Substance Abuse), V (Violence), UR
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 What we're watching
-
A Single Man
Los Angeles 1962, and 52-year-old British college professor George Falconer (Colin Firth) is struggling to find meaning in his life after the death of his long-time partner Jim (Matthew Goode). Through the course of one day, a series of events and encounters cause him to reflect on his past, and ...
-
The Beast Must Die
This enjoyably unusual combination of Agatha Christie-style murder-mystery and gothic chills was the brainchild of Amicus Productions, Britain's chief rival to Hammer Films during the golden era of 1970s Anglo-horror. The film is best known for its gimmicky 'werewolf break' towards the end, where...
-
The Third Man
One of the greatest British films, Carol Reed's classic very consciously emphasises its time and place - post-war Vienna - yet its resonant themes around loss of innocence and a fall from grace render it timeless. Joseph Cotten plays the writer searching the Austrian capital for his missing frien...
