A Poor-Man's 'PANIC ROOM' + some will enjoy it more for it's simplicity
Holy SH*T this was good. Nice blend of Paul Andrew Williams' previous two films.
London to Brighton was a gripping low budget film with some compelling performances and dark undertones. The Cottage was hilariously funny, and at times genuinely horrific, but it was walking on a tightrope between two genres and could arguably have been stronger if it just got to the other side (horror) or made its way back to its roots (comedy).
Cherry Tree Lane is the third film by another awesome new British director-to-watch (after Matthew Vaughn and right alongside David Slade).
The film blends the comedic mishaps of amateur criminals that made The Cottage Funny - with the gritty realism of London to Brighton. And it did it in one room for about 95% of the movie. Very impressive storytelling.
I've just watched it so I'm still buzzing from the adrenaline of the ending.
It is NOT like Harry Brown, which featured a more one-dimensional protagonist who somehow manages to take on an army of purely evil thugs. Harry Brown was like 'I Am Legend'. It was cool but not realistic.
This film features realistic villains who are part good, part evil. They are members of a generation of youngsters who are disconnected from reality. Some are more intelligent than others, some more innocent, some more f'd up - but when the water boils (a metaphor within the film) none of them stands up against the call of the wild. Like little sociopaths they either join in or are complicit.
Final shot of the movie brings the film full circle. We are all part animal. The human dimension allows us to curb our extreme urges - but the psyche is also frail and susceptible to damage from extreme trauma, whether that trauma is an evening of violence or an entire childhood full of it. And when the damage is done - the human dimension fades...and with it goes any sense of right and wrong.