Ill Manors Film Review

Key points	Evidence from Film	Your opinion
Directors – who is it and what else have they directed that you have heard of?	·         Ben Drew is the director
Main stars – who are they? Will people be familiar with them already? What are they known for?	·         Riz Ahmed also known for ‘Four Lions’ , ‘Nightcrawler’ and ‘The Road to Guantanamo’. ·         Ed Skerin ·         Lee Allen also known for ‘Run’ ·         Neil Large also know for ‘Tony’ and ‘Abducted’  ·         Anouska Mond also know for ‘Evil never dies’, and ‘we still kill the old way’.
Plot – what is the film about?	The film is about various characters who are involved In the world of crime, from drug dealers, Users to Prostitutes. It tells the story about how each came into the life of crime, what outcomes it had and what the end result is.
Characters – Who are the main ones and which actors play them? Comment on the quality of the acting.	Main characters; ·         Ed Skrein(Ed) ·         Riz Ahmed (Aaron) ·         Anouska Mond (Michelle) ·         Natalie Press (Katya) Fair Part in the movie: ·         Nick Sagar (marcel) ·         Lee Allen (chris) ·         Keith Coggins (Kirby) ·         Jo Hartley (carol) ·         Neil Large (Terry) ·         Lee Whitelock (vince)	The whole cast had very good acting, especially the main characters who were the focus, their natural and emotive acting helped to evoke various reactions in the audience.
Genre – What type of film is it? Does it fit your expectations for this type of film? How would you describe the mood?	Crime Drama An example of this was when Jake (Ryan De La Cruz) goes to kill a character we see that he has a ill dad/granddad for a short moment as he closes the door. As an audience we begin to understand why he might be so desperate the get into a group and was proud of the money he gets at the end of it.	Yes, it fit my expectations of this type of movie however it did evoke much more sympathy for ‘negative role’ characters than most crime drama films. The mood of the overall movie was tense, emotional and sympathetic throughout the movie. The audience were forced to dislike each character but immediately feel sorry for them after a while
Soundtrack- did you notice/like/dislike it? How did it create atmosphere?	Ill Manors is a soundtrack album by British musician and rapper Plan B Each character/short story within the film had a different single from the soundtrack	I did notice the soundtrack and I did like the lyrics of it, it helped to create a separate atmosphere for each character and situation while in turn explaining how each character felt in each given situation. This provided reasoning for actions which created a degree of sympathy and understanding towards each character.
Audience- who is it aimed at and do you recommend it? Why?	Plan B tried to aim the movie at 15-25 year olds (but the movie a gained a BBFC certificate of 18)	However, I felt the target audience was around 18-32 year olds probably of a demographics of C-AB class. This is due to the older characcters, but a problem younger audience usually are faced with and usually the lower classes. Also the London audience were probably interested due to it being based on a social issue that influences a fair amount of the audience. I would recommend it as it provides an insight to what we should be targeting, eg. Abuse, in order to prevent certain degrees of crime. Also it prevents a hypocritical and subjective view of crime as a whole and provides understanding which can be used to motivate audiences to find better routes and encourage individuals already caught up in similar lifestyles to find a way to get out due to the negative outcomes.

Think of three adjectives that you think sum up the film for you. Make note of these words to use later in your review.

Controversial, Emotive and Powerful. 

Review of the film of at least 750 words

***warning contains spoilers***

A movie targeting the darker and more nitty-gritty aspect of London but giving it a much more understanding and sympathetic spin compared to most like its kind.

Yes the movie has drugs, violence, sex etc. but it tries to give a reasoning which is found to be controversial to most viewers, but to me the movie was an accurate and realistic portrayal of certain important issues faced by West London.

The movie starts with various different plots that seem to be a bit confusing at first, however, as the story progresses Ben Drew cleverly intertwines each of the plots together, almost conveying the message that each events leads to another, each action has a consequence, an outcome. These chain events convey the message that Plan B aims to convey to the audience, that things such as government neglect to certain situations can lead to various more complex outcomes which the government, represented through the police, have a much harder time resolving. This is shown through the various times the police tries to arrest but fails to do so, each character right up until the end of the movie.

The motivation to creating the movie is complemented extremely by each of the characters, whose exceptional acting helps to convey the various emotions that Drew tries to create in the audience, from disgust to pity right to sympathy. Each of these characters has very strong and emotive back stories from things such as orphanage, abuse and neglect. These characters have a troubled past which Drew slowly and smartly reveals at certain intervals of the movie where the impacts are the greatest.

There are many moments where these short and carefully placed moments create an extremely strong message to the audience. One of my favourite examples is when Ed throws the baby out of the window and the photographer only takes pictures, which is shown by a still image for a fair amount of image. The picture shows Ed throwing the baby out of the window and that’s it, no resolve and no reasoning of things such as the building was on fire and that a mate was at the bottom reading to catch and save the baby at the bottom. This is the image that would have been conveyed to the audience and image that could easily be manipulated to show Ed as the Villain whereas ironically this is the only time he serves as the ‘hero’. This was an example of a way he targeted many controversial themes such as the media and government.

In the same scene we are also given an example of how many of the ‘villainous’ characters are given an accurate portrayal of having a past, humanity and aren’t portrayed as only ruthless without any reason, they are all given an emotional drive. This scene Ed dies in his heroic act, where his humanity is conveyed, Ed has been portrayed as extremely villainess and pained in a negative light yet when he dies the audience can’t help but feel sympathy for the character as Aaron remembers Ed as a child, smiling, full of hope and innocence, a message that we are all hopeful and innocent and sweet at a given point but an individual’s life and situation forces them to their negative deeds and behaviour.

The soundtrack of the movie is also a highlight for the movie which also aims to target the social issues faces by each of the individuals and provide reasoning for each of their actions and situations which drove them to their situation at the given moment.

Overall, the movie for me was a good 4 stars out of 5. The complexity of the issue that Drew aimed to face and express his opinion on is bound to have a fair amount of criticism but I think he curved his path carefully and efficiently and succeeded in portraying his message to a large proportion of its audience. The social issues which he addressed in his movie are not only faced in London but also in all areas of the world and are important issues that need to be addressed through artistic means such as films as they can be conveyed. I think his aim towards a young audience was fulfilled through its portrayal and the emotive representation in the way in which it was presented would have a long lasting impact on them, or anyone who views the film. 

I think this movie tackles an important issue as well as the main concept of every action having a consequence which is why we should always think before we act. Moreover, I personally found this movie showing how everyone’s life can be connected by unexpected means and you have no idea of what impact you may have even on loved ones, from an action you wouldn’t even think could influence anyone, let alone loved one.

We’re all born the same way, but the environment and life we choose has a huge impact on who we are and what we will become.