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It's the actors that make this worth a watch. Olivia Coleman and Emma Stone are excellent and bring a real quality and meaning to a story that could have been dull. The direction is too much though, with very wide lenses and an editing style that brings too much attention to itself. And a horrible use of music. The film is also split into sections, or chapters, but for what reason I can't guess. Style over substance maybe but luckily the substance is very strong.

A good, low budget thriller/drama. Good central performances especially from lead Mark Barrett. The film begins at a gentle pace, giving us time to learn about who we are watching which I liked a lot. Too often films try to push straight into the "action" without giving us time to care about the characters and their relationships. There is a tension to the opening as we learn, almost in the background, that a girl is missing and it's interesting trying to work out how the characters fit into this plot line. But we get a sense that something is wrong with a simple glance that Cleek makes to a street security camera whilst talking to a prostitute. From then on we are locked into what he's up to, as his actions get weirder and weirder. And then a reveal that's quite disturbing. It's a lovely balanced performance by Mark Barrett and brings to mind Ralph Fiennes creepy psychotic in Red Dragon. We know that behind his cold stoic expression something is waiting to explode. The film isn't too graphic when it could have been, which I liked, although there is some blood and gore of course - it's a serial killer movie! It's well shot and edited - with some really nice night time location shooting. A good low budget movie which is held steady by a very strong central performance from Mark Barrett.

This film conjures up a good few movies, all of them brilliant - My Own Private Idaho, Midnight Cowboy, even Taxi Driver in its location aesthetic and edgy feel. It's one of those bold New York stories, with a deliberate embrace of the low budget genre (if it is a genre) which gives an immediate, observational feel. Photographically the film is brilliant. It gives a sense of capturing a moment like you'd see with a still image but with that added energy and pace of moving image. Very clever. The performances are beautiful and raw. All are very strong, but especially Jake Mestre playing a character adrift and vulnerable in the city streets. We grow to care about him and his story very much (it is only the actor's second film). He has the ability to look like an non-actor in a good way - naturalistic, unforced. This is the first film from Cati Gonzalez and I hope we'll see much more great work like Ekaj from this new director.