Inspired by Brit urban dramas such as Kidulthood, singer-songwriter Ben Drew developed this film after the 2011 summer riots in Britain as a response to David Cameron's Broken Britain.
Ill Manors is a chaotic film set in an area of inner London as we criss cross the lives of various drug dealers, street kids, crack addicted prostitutes, sex gangs with their imported sex slaves.
With a soundtrack consisting of urban rap and grime which gives the background of the characters and their little tales as well as ageing punk poet John Cooper Clarke popping up as a chorus.
There is the story of the street kid teen Jake who uses his friend's £20 to buy drugs and is ripped off and then has to beat up the friend he took the money from to get respect. After that initiation he beats up more people, gets to have sex, gains what he thinks is respect and is used to kill someone, betrayed and later winds up dead himself. As the accompanying song proclaims, he was only a kid.
The main part of the story is Aaron (Riz Ahmed) who is stuck working with childhood friend and drug dealer Ed (Ed Skrein) who both grew up in the same children homes. Both are hustlers, there is a sleazy sequence as Ed forces a crack addicted prostitute to have sex with a series of sleazy kebab shop owners in order to pay off her debts.
There is a redemption of sorts as Aaron finds a baby on a train as his mother is forced to flee a gang of sex traffickers, Ed sees this as an opportunity to sell the baby to a loving family, the alternative is growing up in a home like he did with no future. In a fire Ed rescues the baby and Aaron manages to reunite the baby with the mother.
The film is energetic, frightening, sordid and perversely has its own conservative streak. It is all about the men, their pride, fear and respect and women treated like chattel.
The movie is also derivative, a kind of movie I have seen before such as the ones written by actor-writer Noel Clarke and we end up seeing a newer stereotypical London, the one depicted in morose urban street dramas with tower blocks and gangs running around.
Ill Manors is a chaotic film set in an area of inner London as we criss cross the lives of various drug dealers, street kids, crack addicted prostitutes, sex gangs with their imported sex slaves.
With a soundtrack consisting of urban rap and grime which gives the background of the characters and their little tales as well as ageing punk poet John Cooper Clarke popping up as a chorus.
There is the story of the street kid teen Jake who uses his friend's £20 to buy drugs and is ripped off and then has to beat up the friend he took the money from to get respect. After that initiation he beats up more people, gets to have sex, gains what he thinks is respect and is used to kill someone, betrayed and later winds up dead himself. As the accompanying song proclaims, he was only a kid.
The main part of the story is Aaron (Riz Ahmed) who is stuck working with childhood friend and drug dealer Ed (Ed Skrein) who both grew up in the same children homes. Both are hustlers, there is a sleazy sequence as Ed forces a crack addicted prostitute to have sex with a series of sleazy kebab shop owners in order to pay off her debts.
There is a redemption of sorts as Aaron finds a baby on a train as his mother is forced to flee a gang of sex traffickers, Ed sees this as an opportunity to sell the baby to a loving family, the alternative is growing up in a home like he did with no future. In a fire Ed rescues the baby and Aaron manages to reunite the baby with the mother.
The film is energetic, frightening, sordid and perversely has its own conservative streak. It is all about the men, their pride, fear and respect and women treated like chattel.
The movie is also derivative, a kind of movie I have seen before such as the ones written by actor-writer Noel Clarke and we end up seeing a newer stereotypical London, the one depicted in morose urban street dramas with tower blocks and gangs running around.