Small City

A great moody debut from the two writer/directors, featuring plenty of naturalistic performances, fantastic cinematography and an excellent soundtrack.

The lead actors performance is particularly good.

Absolutely brilliant film Definitely under rated and watched.

The performances were so real that couldn't imagine they were actors.

A hard watch but worth it.

In Small City the criss crossing lives of those surviving in the intensities of inner city London are given a dignity and poignancy that is unusual. This is enhanced by wonderful cinematic vision and emotionally telling music that fits perfectly with the whole. In addition the acting, at once natural and controlled, is exceptional.

London - a global meta city of multi dimensional infinite complexity- can be thought of as a set of competing 'nations'. Those who live in one may know little or nothing of what happens in the others.

Here we are given a privileged view of one of the most bleakly deadly- and yet alive- sub cities- maybe the Small City of the title.

The entirely believable relationship between the lead couple- one a seemingly demur young woman of East European extraction who turns out to be as deadly as any gang member- and the male lead- deeply saturated in the lethal play of the drug led warfare- aches with a kind of doomed urban glamour.

I'm writing this as I watch- so I don't know how it ends.

Highly recommended.

This film, the debut by UK directing duo Vilanova and Curran, treads a slightly unusual path through fairly well-worn subject matter which elevates it beyond your average UK "street" film.

Any hint of glamour to the street life is completely stripped away, and in style Small City has more of a documentary feel to it, coming across as a grittier version of Stephen Frear's acclaimed "Dirty Little Things", with echoes of the Safdie brothers (I'm thinking "Good Time").

The protagonists are richly painted, particularly in their tangible hopelessness as the film draws to its inevitably violent conclusion. Despite the generally depressing tone, there is the odd light note - as Ozzy jokes he's left London twice in his life, and once was to go to jail - and as a Londoner the films comes across as undoubtedly authentic, perhaps uncomfortably so

I genuinely hope this movie finds the audience it deserves as it compares very favourably to well-received recent UK fare such as "Blue Story".

When you have watched 10 minutes into the film and realize that you have not been able to discern any meaningful dialog at all, that says something for the sound quality of the movie. They mumble their dialog while uttering a low-class gang-style British accent. A better sound quality may have enhanced the ratings for the film.