A friend of mine believes that the less money it appears has been spent on a movie, the grittier it seems to be. If that's the case, the London to Brighton must have cost next to nothing to make.
The film deals with Kelly (Lorraine Stanley) and Joanne (Georgia Groome). When we first meet them, its 3:07 AM and the two girls burst into a rundown toilet in London. Joanne is crying and her clothing is ripped, whilst Kelly looks like she has been on the wrong end of someone's fist. From there on the two girls desperately try to stay one step ahead of the forces that are after them as Kelly, the older of the pair, tries to find a way out of the mess that they have gotten themselves into. To say too much about what they have done and who is after them would spoil the viewer's enjoyment and appreciation of what must be the best British film in ages, but suffice to say that they have to get out of London quick. Of course, their attempts are not that straightforward, and it is never a certainty that they are going to make it at all.
Written and directed by Paul Andrew Williams, this is a tough, gritty and no nonsense piece of cinema, never afraid to show the truth behind a life on the street, whether a runaway like Joanne or a prostitute like Kelly, or the difficulty and dangers of trying to leave such a life behind, and as a result of this it will not be to everyone's taste. Some scenes are almost to distressing to watch, and the film is absolutely resolute in its desire never to pull a single punch, leaving the viewer rewarded but exhausted by the end of the film. Coupled with a series of great performances from Stanley, who is superb as the hard faced but ultimately redeemable Kelly, and a quite astonishingly assured turn from Groome as the hard faced but innocent Joanne, as well as a number of noteworthy supporting roles, in particular Johnny Harris as Derek, Kelly's unbelievably unlikeable pimp, and some really quite lovely cinematography (witness the shot of Joanne from outside the car window, or the touchingly simple shot of polystyrene cups in the wind) and you have what must be one of the best films ever made in the country. Just goes to show we can still do it when we want to.