London to Brighton (18)
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.You couldn't call London To Brighton an enjoyable film. Its opening scene sets the tone by having a woman with a black eye sharing a bag of chips with a sobbing girl in a graffiti-covered toilet cubicle, so it's not recommended for a pleasant Friday evening's escapism. But it's a brilliant debut, all the same, from a twentysomething writer-director whose vision of London's gangland belongs to the seedy, Mike Hodges tradition rather than the knockabout Guy Ritchie one.
All of the unknown actors are superb, but the star is Lorraine Stanley (left), who fearlessly stakes her claim to be the next Kathy Burke. Stanley plays a King's Cross streetwalker who rescues an 11-year-old runaway (George Groome) from a paedophile crime boss. The pair of them jump on a train to the seaside, and a tender but unsentimental mother-daughter bond forms between them. But Stanley's gormless pimp (Johnny Harris) and the kingpin's terrifyingly calm son (Sam Spruell) aren't far behind.
While flashbacks piece together the bloody misdeeds of the night before, the chase is concentrated into a nerve-racking 24-hour period. It's as taut as any thriller, but with all the authentic grubbiness of a social-realist tract.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments