RED

	London to Brighton

 

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.