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This blog has been contributed by Kieran Masterton, who has never threatened me with a Chelsea Brick....yet

"Let it never be said that British film gives you that warm fuzzy feeling inside." That, I believe, is the unspoken mantra of our national cinema.  With the saccharin exception of writer Richard Curtis (Notting Hill, Love Actually, Bridget Jones's Diary) our film industry is singularly depressing.  Maybe it's the monotone gray sky, or perhaps the constant drizzle, or it could be that we're just a bunch of miserable buggers.  In truth, however, the cause is far more political. 

Filmmakers like Ken Loach and Tony Richardson conceived this gloomy perspective in the late 50's in tune with a cultural movement known as "kitchen sink realism."  The movement, which encompassed novelists, playwrights, and artists as well as filmmakers, was born out of a desire to depict social realism in British cultural endeavours.  For years prior to this revolution British culture, and in particular cinema, was dominated by twee Ealing Comedies, painful period dramas and tired situational farces.

Fueled by socialist political leanings and working class frustrations, the likes of Loach (Cathy Come Home, Kes) and Richardson (Look Back in Anger) set out to create films that portrayed the working classes, particularly in the north of England, in a realistic manner.  These filmmakers believed that the true people of Britain were not being represented and that they, as filmmakers, could engender change through creative outlets.  From their creative endeavours in the 50's and 60's our current national cinema was born.

Later directors like Mike Hodges would take the movement into the mainstream. Hodges, greatly influenced by the naturalism a decade earlier, would build the same aesthetic and thematic qualities into his international hit Get Carter (1971) and a vein of "kitchen sink realism" has run through our filmmaking ever since.  Whether it be Danny Boyle's Trainspotting (1996), Nick Love's The Football Factory (2004) or Shane Meadows This Is England (2006), social realist movements have clearly forged a mould for contemporary British filmmaking.

In the coming weeks in "Across The Pond" I hope to bring you a series of blogs that explore highlight films where the heritage of social realism is alive and well.  I will begin with films, some of which I have already mentioned, that truly speak of what it really is to be British and later move on to hyper-real filmmakers like Guy Ritchie.

To begin the series, I highlight a film that not only shocks but gives a face to an issue that everyone in Britain would rather be ignored: child prostitution.  London to Brighton (2006), the first feature film from English writer/director Paul Andrew Williams, is a bleak depiction of organised crime and prostitution in urban England.  The film opens in media res where Kelly (Lorraine Stanley) and Joanne (Georgia Groome) burst breathless into a public toilet at 3:07 a.m.  Kelly, late twenties and clearly a prostitute, has a furious looking black eye, ripped clothes and blood-smeared face.  Joanne, an 11 year-old runaway, has a face caked in makeup but wears a childish hoody and jeans, while in another, rather more salubrious bathroom Duncan Allen (Alexander Morton) bleeds to death.

The fractured narrative then plays out.  Following Kelly and Joanne as they flee the concrete and violence of the city for the seaside town Brighton, are their pimp Derek (Johnny Harris) and his henchman, Chum (Nathan Constance), who need to catch the girls or it'll be them who pay for Duncan's death.  The audience gradually learns more and more about events leading up to the opening scene while also following Derek's hunt for Kelly and Joanne in Brighton.  It transpired that Duncan Allen, the chap bleeding to death on his bathroom floor, is the sicko who ordered an 11 year-old hooker and also happens to be a London organised crime lord.  Now, his son Stuart Allen (the brilliant Sam Spruell) has sent Derek after them.  Fractured narrative aside, the film plays out like a traditional thriller, albeit one that highlights some fairly unpleasant truths about the underbelly of our society.  However, it is the twist in the tale that really makes this film great.  I won't play the spoiler game but I highly recommend you get your hands on a copy of the DVD and find out what happens for yourselves.

London to Brighton is most of all a brave piece of filmmaking from a young and inexperienced filmmaker who shows that by taking chances on an extremely difficult subject matter you can produce something rather profound and still entertain your audience.  The characterization is beautifully executed and, reminiscent of American Beauty, plays with good and evil - characters that are neither goodies nor badies, but are instead complex three-dimensional characters that are both.  Even Joanne, played by 10 year-old Georgia Groome, is not portrayed as totally innocent.  After all, without her as a symbol of lost innocence the film would not have the impact it does.

It is a shame that after such a phenomenal low budget début, Williams decide to follow it up with The Cottage (2008), a "comedy horror"  falls flat on its face.  That aside I feel that we could be looking at a real writing/directing force in British cinema and one unafraid of taboo subject matters.

London To Brighton is available on Region 2 DVD from Amazon.com and I can honestly say it's contemporary British filmmaking at its best.  Next week in "Across The Pond," have your Chelsea Bricks at the ready and prepare yourselves for the English football violence powerhouse - Nick Love's Football Factory.

Kieran Masterton is a postgraduate research student who has taught Film and Media at the University of Gloucestershire, UK.  His research interests include screenwriting, neo-noir, genre theory and the slasher genre.

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