County Lines (2019) User Reviews

Scarifying view of a modern problem

[oldvinyl · 8/10 · 25 April 2021]

Remarkable acting, script and life story. Would have been a 10/10 if it had not been for the peculiar old-fashioned screen dimensions, which made it look more like a 80s TV movie than a modern widescreen film.

The way in which Tyler is recruited into the County Lines drug dealing network, becoming the 'Jim Line' is both convincing and disturbing. The film shows the social problems that lie behind the recruitment of youngsters into these criminal schemes, even the school life is shown -- and I have to say I would not want to be a teacher in that school. There's a lack of explanation of certain things. I'm not sure a US viewer would know that a PRU is a pupil referral unit.

the 'County Line' is the mobile phone line used to take the orders of drugs

[e_epistle · 8/10 · 24 April 2021]

This is certainly both a bleak and powerful film, full of real emotion and depth: the sense of hopelessness and struggle kept me watching for the entire 84 minutes!

A moving coming-of-age British film with lots of swearing and brutal scenes about a teenage boy who is groomed into a 'county lines' criminal network.

Before watching this I did not know much about this topic so I had a quick look at the nationalcrimeagency website: "County Lines is where illegal drugs are transported from one area to another, often across police and local authority boundaries (although not exclusively), usually by children or vulnerable people who are coerced into it by gangs. The 'County Line' is the mobile phone line used to take the orders of drugs. Importing areas (areas where the drugs are taken to) are reporting increased levels of violence and weapons-related crimes as a result of this trend."

The film follows Tyler (Conrad Khan, born in 2000) - a withdrawn teenager whose mother struggles to keep her family afloat. In the first minute of the film you hear the words "acceptable loss" and Khan's role here asks a lot of him as a young actor: his opening scene relies purely on his facial expressions and, as his situation deteriorates further, we are even more aware that underneath he's still a boy, full of confusion and turmoil. There is a flashback to Tyler's life six months earlier and you see a rather troubled boy.

After buying a pair of shoes and sitting having food, Tyler listens as Simon (Harris Dickinson) describes himself as an entrepreneur and a man of his house: Tyler immediately replies that he, to, is "the man of my house". From here you feel the excellent script building the story with every scene and watch as Tyler changes from that boy into an angry and violent man-of-his-house.

"County Lines" works best on a big TV screen as there are many dark and deliberately dimly lit scenes. The camerawork is clever in many scenes and the use of filters on some of the shots really adds to the atmosphere of the characters. You see this in the scene where Tyler is standing in the school yard, surrounded by puffy jackets and people, but totally alone in his depressing view of his life.

I was shocked at how real this film feels, and I watched as Tyler becomes a train-bound drugs courier, taking him into a world of violence, exploitation and deceit. This really is gritty storytelling - from Tyler's concealed method of carrying the drugs to the brutal beating he receives one hour into the film when he tries to muscle in on the patch of another dealer.

We only ever hear and see exactly what we need to and the director's restrained approach to his narrative heightens the film's devastating impact.

The film ends with a rather disturbing message:

Up to 10,000 children as young as 11 are involved in County Lines across the UK.

Bloodshot

[davidjaldred · 8/10 · 21 August 2022]

There aren't many films that bring a tear to this cynical old eye, and I thought I'd sail through this little drama and remain dry. But a son saying "Thanks" is enough to start the waterworks, it seems. And I didn't feel manipulated; that tear was not squeezed out of me by foul means. That tear was gladly given and well earned. I cannot say how true to life this film is, although I do no doubt this goes on. Nevertheless, the drama was enough to open my eyes - bloodshot with crying though they might have been.

County Lines

[thebadgers · 10/10 · 19 April 2021]

A film that will have you truly trembling during some of its sequences. With a strong sense of 'less-is-more' style filmmaking - the film is infused with a haunting and symbolic use of imagery. The use of sound is implicitly effective and the cast is nothing short of extraordinary: particularly the way Conrad Khan portrays his character Tyler's transformation.

Without a hint of exaggeration... this film would be the perfect film to show in schools. County lines is a very real epidemic in the UK. This film really epitomises the extreme and unsettling lifestyle that children are being unfairly groomed into.

Desperate times

[fostrhod · 9/10 · 19 November 2022]

I was set a challenge by a so called friend to find the bleakest film ever made. Will our friendship survive this torture? Well I've found it .... The bleakest film of all time. County Lines 2019 BBCIPlayer . It probably hits a nerve because those are the kids and families that I've been living within my neighbourhood and I've watched due to lack of funding and government drive with ever decreasing levels of success over the years spiral further down into poverty .

Desperate times calls for desperate measures.

County Lines is the term used for drug runners working in other cities or rural areas away from their own home patch, principally because they have no police record in that area and because they are young kids. Great acting from all the cast, all unknowns apart from one lad who is now in Eastenders. It's a simple but very real story, 9/10 (thinking about it THE ROAD is the bleakest movie if all time)

Poignant and necessary

[jamescale-79686 · 10/10 · 29 January 2023]

Delicately poignant. Toe-curling in moments, hands over eyes in others, grounded but nothing short of absolutely gripping. You were right there with them, all the time, which is a testament to the script and the cast.

Khan was phenomenal and gave outstanding performances throughout. This is completely moving and an ode to British filmmaking. The atmosphere built through the expressionist and nuanced cinematography was seriously next level and it's how it's been filmed that makes the picture so evocative.

That cold, bleak hue and fuzzy grain of a winter in working England is something I know strikes many of us watching. The complex interpersonal nature of family and our parents during adolescence. The nativity of youth and the regret and sorrow we so often feel. Craving that deep hug from a maternal figure, crying into their arms.

County Lines is a truly beautiful and timeless piece by Blake; a necessary work of catharsis, melancholy, bravery and poignancy.

Grim

[Devo-McDuff · 5/10 · 27 July 2021]

This is grim, as it should be given this is a very real and common place scenario these days. The casting and acting is great, all the main parts ring true. My main problem with is the somewhat happy ending, as this is not how I think most of these situations pan out. It also didn't feel believable that his Mum suddenly becomes Mrs Doubtfire after not bothering to ask where the money has come from for the last 6 months while he was wagging school. I know the gravity of what happened might have shocked her into action, but still, I didn't buy that a Mum that neglected him so badly in that time and must have surely known where the money was coming from, could change so much. Maybe I'm just cynical.

What am I supposed to write here

[arturbertash · 10/10 · 29 May 2022]

It seems to me the movie is underestimated I would say it is one the best British movies I know about. The plot is kinda simple but still really interesting I don't like is these long breaks when someone starts to think.

Thank you Mr Blake

[CutUncut2021 · 10/10 · 4 March 2022]

All my life I've heard people say "They were asking for it--" regarding nearly every imaginable kind of hardship folks see others facing (including rape). Easy to be smug at your own puny achievements when you observe the calamities of others, but tomorrow you might be hit by a bus as you digit the nth tweet of the morning. Today's "culture" is so sick it's a miracle the lights are still on. As with the storyline here in "County Lines", life itself has become one endless turf war, digging private trenches, mostly invisible: your kids my kids, your stuff my stuff. And then the banality of ordinary evil, the sudden event that re-ignites neglected bonds (married couples, parents with their kids, former friends). We make mistakes, briefly show remorse, but then invariably lapse back into our old ways of utter self-interest. True renewal is an extreme accomplishment. The heroes here in "County Lines" are perhaps not the mother (albeit commendable), but the other adults around Tyler of no blood relation who invest in him: his teachers and the social worker, those silent and mainly invisible individuals who hold the rich and complex tapestry of our society together. This restrained yet subtly ambitious film belongs with Ken Loach's "Sweet Sixteen", Andrea Arnold's "Fish Tank", and not least Clio Barnard's "Selfish Giant". Thanks to a wonderful cast, and thanks to you Mr Blake for bringing them together.

An informative look on the ills of a modern drug dealing culture.

[shezza72 · 10/10 · 28 March 2022]

I hope they are showing this to the teens in school, to educate them into understanding that this is a very dangerous path to follow and that the dealers treat them as an acceptable loss to their business, as many of the kids are fooled into believing they can be as rich and looking crisp with nice clothes jewellery and watches as the one who grooms them, when all these groomers are doing is putting all the dangers and risks on young recruited kids so they keep themselves under the radar with the law. I hope with the governments new laws and acts passed they tackle this practise full on and give very long sentences to groomers and drug dealers alike who use and abuse these kids. We can only hope as we need alot of funding for the authorities (police, social services, youth associations, councils, schools non lenient judges and especially the government) to eradicate this growing disease of our modern society. Great acting by Conrad Khan and brilliant writing direction by Henry Blake and his team.

Slow and depressing

[sheilablueskies · 3/10 · 1 May 2021]

I got the idea from the first five minutes that it was going to be a slow moving story, it was agonising waiting for something to happen. The scene was set well enough in the first minute, depressing, breadline, working class Britain. There was no need for dragging out the setting of the oppressive environment in which Tyler was growing up.

His mother was well played, as a struggling, worn out single parent who worked shifts to provide for her kids. Simon was clearly well-cast, a predator who commanded attention.

I resisted fast forwarding at first but gave up watching when Tyler became a drug dealer overnight after about 30 minutes.

This film was probably great for someone doing a social study, but I want more evidence of why Tyler fell victim so easily. Why was he so introverted and disengaged when he plainly loved his little sister and mother?

Why did he abandon them so easily?

Great film..

[edwarddowney-16335 · 10/10 · 14 July 2023]

I saw this film on bbc2 beginning of the year and was well impressed. I grew up in hackney east London and can totally relate to this film. It is warts and all the lad in this film deserves to go far he played a very good role in it. I can't understand why this film didn't have a wider audience it deserves it it sends a message that drug dealing is bad news.not that it gonna make a difference.overall I gve this a 10/10 it such a good film it deserves a wider audience..the only gripe I got is that the drug dealer got away he should have been arrested but that's my opinion..

But the message is there..

Brutal depiction of a serious modern crime epidemic...

[InfiniteInertia · 9/10 · 24 July 2023]

Firstly; I will say, clearly this film will not cater to all tastes. I agree with many of the other reviews; pacing is certainly one of the biggest issues with the script, which lurches between acts in places. That said, it does not hurt the film as a whole, as it can clearly be seen what the director was trying to do, without outstaying their welcome.

Whilst bleak, the story is one that needs to be told, preferably to the largest audience possible. I also agree with the point many others have made; this is the closest to the classic "Wheel TV/Video combo into class & watch documentary/public safety films in junior school" material that has been produced in recent years. As it was/is a sign of that era, it is something that has sadly died out by-and-large of late. This is unfortunate, as films made in this style are essential to tell stories/get the message across to the yoof.

The story is tightly & efficiently told, using a minimum of actors/supporting cast. All of which do a top job in their respective characters. There are literally NO "known actors" apart from a couple that have done soap's (soap operas), this is of no consequence & in fact IMHO helps to deliver a certain "authenticity", in that the characters are portrayed as "nobodies" essentially.

The actor playing "Simon" (The pusher-man) does a superbly understated and restrained job of presenting a man of quiet menace. Only going to anger in short bursts, just enough to inform the viewer that this person should not be crossed. The scene where "T" enters the restaurant, and sees him sitting with his wife and young daughter, essentially the mirror to his own family unit (the overwhelming use of glass in the scene a nice D. P touch), is especially poignant as it effortlessly tells 2 stories at once: 1) This life of crime can get you these nice things.

2) But it's not for the likes of you boy, now get out of here!

The final scene does a great job of framing the story as a whole, "Why do you do this to people?"..."Because it's easy..." Yes; easy for the ones who already have the advantage over poorer, more easily manipulated individuals. Dark characters with zero moral compass, or integrity, who take great delight in controlling and dominating others in this life.

Powerful stuff, not exactly a "feel good film" for sure...

Nothing new

[neill_wyper · 4/10 · 24 September 2021]

I really wanted to like this film but it just falls flat in so many ways. The plot is so simple that it is insulting, boy gets blah, meets blah and ends up moderately the same before blah1. I was so genuinely surprised about how hollow the plot was I wasn't sure whether or not it was finished.

A great chance wasted.

Depressing and uninteresting

[madanmarwah · 4/10 · 28 June 2021]

With a plot about the use of underage children for transportation of illegal drugs in UK, one would expect that the film would provide engaging fare. Far from it.

The film fails to connect with the audience due to its dull and boring narrative. One waits for the film to get gripping but it doesn't happen. Granted that the atmosphere in the film needed to be stifling, claustrophobic and depressing due to the theme but it still could have been made interesting by a better treatment of the mother son relationship and the angst of a 14 year old boy. In the present form the film is neither an engrossing documentary nor a gripping feature film. Actually it is a few notches below a docudrama too. It is not entertainment and the popcorn with you will become tasteless after some time. The scenes lack finesse. A boy wanting to be a man of the house is OK but the narrative follow up lacks conviction. Where there is sale of drugs there will be dimly lit corridors, shady characters, violence and cuss words. Fair enough but it should be absorbing for the audience.

The film is unnecessarily depressing, pessimistic, morbid. It didn't have to be.

Broadcast in school

[ks-60500 · 5/10 · 29 May 2021]

Besides the educational value this movie, this movie is up to standard. It's tragic story and this could happen to any of the kids in our society.