Ill Manors (2012)

Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Aaron bed-sits alone. Dressed in "street uniform" baseball cap, trainers and black outfit with a "Hoodie" top, he smokes a roll-up. Un-blinking,he watches social commentary on TV. A range of "street people" express their views on "The social problem".As a 'youth worker' states emphatically "It is a definite bonus to have a strong family background ...", Aaron looks devastated and gulps. We are left in no doubt, he is from a broken home, he's been in care and though he is alert and aspirational, he's in a dark place right now.The voice of the Writer-Director (Ben Drew), narrates; warning us to put our seat-belts on. His words become a Rap Poem, blending smoothly into his performance of "I Am the Narrator". A drum, snare, and bass track with a hook line that samples "Aquarium" from The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns; placing your nerves firmly on edge with it's intensity and eeriness.Getting straight down to business, this opener plays to scenes of full-on drug dealing and drug using activities, with panoramic vulture's eye views of the urban underworld, all punters, prostitutes, and gangsters.Aaron is dealing outside a pub with his friend Ed, who serves a punter some drugs. As soon as his client's out of earshot, Ed starts to insult him in a way that immediately confirms his 'scumbag' credentials. What is Aaron doing with this idiot? In hopeless cycles of fear, flight, and attack; the characters connect and collectively manifest the poisonous web that is their ghetto-hood.With it's killer soundtrack, razor-blade-sharp eye for plot-detail, visual gags, and a speed-dial connection to " Hood-life circa 2012"; watching Ill Manors is sometimes surprising, sometimes painful; but never dull.On this roller coaster ride of losses and gains, everyone rides and no one is clean; but the ticket to redemption can sometimes be bought for a price, paid in deeds or paid in blood.What this movie lacks in perspective depth, it more than makes up for with a style and pace, that leave many movie releases of 2012 standing.Contemporary Street vibes and idioms are vividly captured, and projected with an authentic immediate bleakness.While possibly falling 'only-just' short of being a "classic"; Ben Drew's directorial film debut is an amazingly confident foray into the 'social-realism movie' arena.His talents as an established singer songwriter serve him well, and add a refreshing twist to this well-trodden genre.Originally written & published ... by me - Jerome Willner (2012 10 11 - 20:20Hrs)

I don't like to write many reviews, but when I discover a movie that I think it is underrated, it makes sense to write about it:)Although there are many characters, you do not get to know very well any of them and at the same they all have something in common: a horror east-London story-line that tangles them.I guess the movie seems very rough and tough from many points of view, specially to someone who has not been in that part of London, nor has seen anything similar. To all the other ones, this seems to be just another slice of live that brings up sometimes the worst and best of people.There is a positive message in the end, but boy..you have to through hell and back before you get there!I am having hard time recommending the movie, although from technical point of view it was almost without flaw, mainly because the abuse of using too many sad stories at the same time. Limiting the number of main characters to only 2-3 would've had the same effect.Anyway, kudos to the director for a well done movie, albeit I will never want to watch it again...

I must admit that 45 minutes in I wanted to switch this off. It was almost unbearably depressing and grim, however I am glad I stuck with it through to the end. I don't know if this depicts normal life in inner city London or not but from news reports I wouldn't imagine it was million miles away. The film paints a bleak picture of people stuck in an almost lose lose situation although of course ultimately you shape your own destiny in life. For a directorial debut this is amazingly assured. I have not a fan of Plan B as it's not really my music taste but he is obviously a hugely talented guy. The film follows various people and their stories throughout the film and these gradually intertwine. The fact that all the stories are interesting as well is also impressive as you rarely get this in movies that mingle multiple stories. The film boasts a largely unknown cast which makes the almost uniformly excellent performances all the more staggering. There is little of the usual cockney wide boy caricature to be seen here. I felt the performances of Riz Ahmed and Anouska Mond were particularly good. The film in many ways reminded me of Trainspotting but with an even darker edge and the film is almost on a par with that one. This is a brutal and tough film to watch but one which really pays off with a great ending. This by word of mouth will end up being a cult classic of that i'm pretty sure.

I didn't have high hope's for this film after the first 5 minute's, yet I persevered and boy am I glad that I did. The character's are so believable they could be people you know, I don't want to give too much away, the film's funny when it want's to be and sad when it need's to be, I found it a most enjoyable, poignant film and I do believe that it's British made as well, well done the boy's. To give you a slight insight into what it's about, it's the not too pleasant seedier side of life, centring around a likable rogue and his friend's, acquaintance's and foe's, in a typical inner city, I think it's one of the borough's of London, I found it to be quite moving really, again well done.