While there are plenty of classic examples of the genre from “Get Carter” and “The Long Good Friday” to “Sexy Beast” and “Layer Cake,” the British gangster movie has become a fairly maligned genre, swamping U.K. multiplex screens and supermarket shelves with abysmal, low-rent, laddy fare, normally starring at least one of Danny Dyer or Tamer Hassan. But that doesn’t mean that the style’s down and out for the count, as this summer saw the British release of a low-key gem in the genre.
“Down Terrace,” from TV comedy veterans Ben Wheatley (who directed), and Robin Hill (who co-wrote and co-starred), takes a realistic look at a dysfunctional Brighton crime family who, after the father and son (Hill and his real-life father Robert Hill) are acquitted of a drugs charge, begin the hunt for the rat in their organization. Coming across almost like the British answer to “Animal Kingdom,” it begins as wry and amusing with excellently drawn characters, but soon descends quickly into darkness. The cast, which includes Julia Deakin, Michael Smiley and Tony Law (all veterans of Edgar Wright’s “Spaced”), are uniformly excellent, and the film never descends into hard-man cliches; it’s one of the few bright spots in U.K. film this year.
It’s been taking the festival circuit by storm for some time, picking up awards at Fantastic Fest, Raindance and the British Independent Film Awards, and it starts its roll-out, via Magnet, in New York and LA on October 8th. A new trailer for the film has arrived, and it gives a pretty good sense of what to expect. Watch it below, or head over to Apple for the HD version, and we’d certainly recommend checking it out if it’s playing near you.
