Bullet Boy is banging good

So Solid's Ashley Walters in the Bullet Boy.

Saul Dibb, the white director of this brave, powerfully made British film with a virtually allblack cast, has been criticised for its suggestion that gun culture is the norm in London's sink estates.

But he's saying nothing of the sort. He's saying that while it is not the norm, guns are undoubtedly a part of life. And he tells a story about two brothers who are drawn into a cycle of violence they can't control.

So Solid performance from Ashley Walters
Ricky (Ashley Walters of So Solid Crew) comes out of a Youth Offenders Institute determined to go straight. But on his way home with his friend (Leon Black), he is involved in a minor car accident which has unexpected consequences.

A petty row spirals out of control as a gang leader is shot, Ricky's 12-year-old brother (Luke Fraser) picks up a gun he finds at home and a friend is accidentally wounded. The violence soon escalates into murder.

Meanwhile, Ricky's mother (Claire Perkins) is desperately trying to keep her home together.

Bullet Boy is partly the story of the territorial gangs who roam the streets with little to do and not much hope of anything better, and partly an illustration of the gaping divide between two generations of black Britons. Both themes are well orchestrated by Dibb, who convincingly sets the scene.

While there isn't a single uncertain performance, Walters, who has been in trouble with the police himself, shows exactly the mixture of guilt and defiance that is needed, and Claire Perkins is outstanding as his worried mother.

Marcel Zyskind's cinematography summons up a drab Hackney with some deft touches. We have seen similar things in American films but never on British cinema screens. For that alone, Dibbs and his cast deserve high praise for a job much more than decently done.

A petty row spirals out of control as a gang leader is shot, Ricky's 12-year-old brother (Luke Fraser) picks up a gun he finds at home and a friend is accidentally wounded. The violence soon escalates into murder.

Meanwhile, Ricky's mother (Claire Perkins) is desperately trying to keep her home together.

Dibb does well
Bullet Boy is partly the story of the territorial gangs who roam the streets with little to do and not much hope of anything better, and partly an illustration of the gaping divide between two generations of black Britons. Both themes are well orchestrated by Dibb, who convincingly sets the scene.

While there isn't a single uncertain performance, Walters, who has been in trouble with the police himself, shows exactly the mixture of guilt and defiance that is needed, and Claire Perkins is outstanding as his worried mother.

Marcel Zyskind's cinematography summons up a drab Hackney with some deft touches. We have seen similar things in American films but never on British cinema screens. For that alone, Dibbs and his cast deserve high praise for a job much more than decently done.

Bullet Boy
Cert: 15

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