Title:
London to Brighton
Date of release: 01/12/2006
Director: Paul Andrew Williams
Genre: Crime-Thriller/Social Realism
This film
doesn’t start with a state of equilibrium; the start of the film shows two of
the main characters rushing into a public toilet while panicking and crying. And
because of the films non-linear structure we are then shortly introduced to the
equilibrium; both characters manage to get on a train to Brighton to escape who
they are running away from. In Brighton Joanne and Kelly stay at Kelly’s
friend’s house where Kelly goes out to work as a prostitute to get money for
her and Kelly. While they’re out in Brighton on the beach, it cuts to a
flashback and in this flashback we are shown the disruption of the equilibrium
which explains to us what happened before they rushed into the public toilet
panicking and crying and we now know why they had to flee from London to
Brighton.
It then cuts to a different scene where we are introduced to new characters and
we are shown that these characters are aware of the disruption. These
characters make phone calls and to try and sort of the disruption and at the
end of the film the tension builds up and the disruption is solved as Stuart
decides that Kelly & Joanne are the victims so he kills Derek and his
friend Chum. In the Joanne is reunited with her grandma who will now look after
her and the Kelly who was in danger manages to go back to her old life.
This film
follows a non-linear narrative as we are introduced to part of the disruption
at the start of the film which is then followed by a flashback which explains
to the audiences what has happened and how Kelly and Joanne got into the
situation shown at the start of the film. When the film reaches this point it
carries on to tell the audience what then happened after this point. The film
also has an omniscient narrative rather than a restricted narrative as we have
an idea and insight into the lives of other characters with no secrets kept
from the audience. London to Brighton has a closed ending as all the loose ends
are tied up and the audience finds out what happens to the characters with no
cliff hangers e.g. Stuart kills Derek and lets Kelly & Joanne be free and
Joanne is reunited with her grandma.
The genre of
London to Brighton is social realism and one of the main themes is social
inequality, this theme is shown well throughout the film. It is shown through
the characters, one of the main characters is a woman named Kelly who lives in
poverty so she had to become a prostitute to earn money for herself. There is
also a pimp named Derek who Kelly owes some favours, when we’re shown Derek for
the first time he’s in his house which isn’t in the best state and he’s begging
his girlfriend to have sex with two of his friends for money. He also asks
Kelly to get him an underage prostitute for one of his customers, even though
he knows what he’s doing is wrong he still goes through with it for money, his
desperation shows that he also lives in poverty
and is willing to do anything for money no matter how wrong it is. Another main
character who’s used to portray social inequality is an 11 year old girl named
Joanne who ran away from home due to the loss of her mother and the abuse from
her father and is found by Kelly and used as the underage prostitute Derek’s
customer asked for. Joanne’s situation shows social inequality because she had
to run away and beg on the street for money and even become a prostitute at the
age of 11. Another character we are introduced to is Derek’s customer, an
elderly man named Duncan. The fact that Derek was desperate to do as told by
Duncan already shows us his power and tells us something about his high rank in
the hierarchy. When we see Duncan for
the first time he’s in his home and the use of mise en scene shows us how big
his house is which is big and filled with expensive furniture and ornaments.
This shows social inequality because Duncan and his son Stuart have a lot of
power of all of the lower class characters because of their money and because
of their power they can decide the characters’ fate.
Another
theme in the film is running away, Joanne is a runaway because her father was
abusive and neglected her then when she flees to beg on the streets she is
rescued by Kelly but is forced to be on the run again shortly after. Another
theme is death, Kelly and Joanne kill Duncan and then run away and when they’re
caught Duncan’s son Stuart states that his father is dead and someone has to
pay, he then shoots Derek’s partner Chum and then forces Joanne to shoot Derek.
Another theme is crime, Joanne is used as an underage prostitute, three
characters are murdered and the kidnapping of Joanne and Kelly towards the end
of the film, there are also many gang elements used in the film as Duncan is a
powerful mobster. All of these themes are typical of the crime-thriller genre
and crime and murder are two of the main themes in the film.
Throughout
the film, natural dark lighting is used in most scenes. When in the public
toilet, Derek’s flat and Kelly’s friend’s apartment the lightning is quite
dark. However when we’re shown Duncan’s mansion the natural lightning is a lot
brighter and all his furniture is white, the brightness is used to emphasise
his wealth whereas the dark and dull lighting used in the other indoor scenes
are used to emphasise the miserable and not so bright lives of the other
characters. In the outdoor scenes, it is either shot at night time or if it is
shot in the day time the weather is always dark and miserable. This also adds
emphasis to the dark gritty theme of most British films similar to London to
Brighton. In social realism films such as London to Brighton the use of natural
lighting is a common technique used to emphasise the reality and to make the
films as realistic looking as possible.
The dialogue used is also typical of a British crime-thriller/social realism film,
the characters speak in an informal manner and the accents are also typical of a
British film. The characters’ dialogue reflects their low social class as they
speak in a very restricted code which is a common aspect in the representation
of low social class.
Towards the
ending of the film where the disruption is being dealt with the lighting is
dark as the scene is shot outdoors in a field at night time. It being dark
relates to the darkness of the scene where there is a lot of tension as we think
that Joanne is about to be shot and buried by Stuart and his partners. Chum is
then shot by Stuart and Joanne is forced to kill Derek and they’re both then
buried in the holes they were forced to dig, in other words they were forced to
unknowingly dig their own graves. The dark theme and lightning all relates to
the crime-thriller genre.
In this
scene there isn’t much sound used, as the scene is filled with tension diegetic
sound such as dialogue is kept to a minimum to add to the effect. One of the
key lines said in this scene was by Stuart who said “my dad is dead, someone
has to pay” followed by a medium close up shot of Joanne to emphasise her fear
we all think she is about to be shot. Another key line is “Joanne take the
trigger” this is when we realise that he isn’t going to kill Joanne but he will
make her kill the man who got her into the situation she was in. we also her a
lot of screaming from Kelly and Joanne, Kelly screams at the men to leave
Joanne alone as she’s only a child showing that Kelly is trying to take
responsibility of Joanne. Joanne constantly cries and calls out for Kelly’s
help showing her vulnerability and dependence on Kelly.
Social
realism films aim to reflect reality within the film, British social realism
films such as London to Brighton use real locations rather than studios with
set up locations, this is done to emphasise reality. For example, Derek’s
council home is a real council home which many working class people in Britain live
in ones similar to. Social realism films also explore real life issues in
society and London to Brighton does this by exploring the themes of prostitution/child
prostitution and runaway youth. London to Brighton also explores themes such as
gangs, drugs, violence which are common in the crime thriller genre. Combining
all of these elements helps make London to Brighton a crime thriller/social realism
hybrid.
A medium close up of Stuart
holding the gun and explaining that someone is going to pay for his father’s
death
A close up of Kelly
and a medium close up of Joanne. Both shots showing the fear on their faces
because they both think they’re about to be shot by Stuart as they are the one
who killed his father.
Medium shot of Derek’s
friend Chum after Stuart shot him.
A close up shot of
Stuart making Joanne hold the gun to shoot Derek. In this close up shot you can
see the high level of fear and distress on Joanne’s face.
Medium shot showing
that Joanne shot Derek.
Another close up shot
of Joanne showing the distress on her face because of everything she had just
been through and showing regret because she just got forced to shoot a man.
A medium shot of
Stuart looking at the two dead men he is responsible for showing no regret but
anger instead.
