One review on 15 May 2021

UK 2019

Running time: 90 mins

County Lines

no director listed

Setting: UK cities
Summary: Teenage boy gets sucked into drug running to support family


Aspect Ratio: 1.55

Colour: Colour

Sound: Stereo

Tech Notes: Stereo



First Seen: Sat 15th May 2021
Catalogued: 20th May 2021

Synopsis

Tyler (Conrad Khan) aged 14 lives with his mum, Toni (Ashley Madekwe) and younger sister Aliyah (Tabitha Milne-Price) in tower block. Toni works nights, Tyler is a loner and bullied at school. When Toni looses her job Tyler gets groomed and recruited into a drug distribution network.

Reviews

by Roger CO on Sat 15th May 2021 DVD proj @ home

Convincing view of a real issue

Summary

A chunk of English social realism

Full review

Excellent performances by Conrad Khan as the 14 year old Tyler, and Ashley Madekwe as Toni, his mum.

Henry Blake has evidently tapped into his own experiences working in the front line of youth support to make this film, and both the story and the performaces throughout are entirely convincing.

We see how the children of the precariat become extremely vulnerable and susceptible to being sucked into dangerous choices. Thus the problems are handed down from generation to generation as the rich get richer.

The film is in similar territory to both the Education segment of Small Axe (2020) and Rocks (2019), all dealing with the impact of bad policy on young people in difficult circumstances. Of the three Education has the most upbeat ending, whereas this leaves one very aware of the issue and some of the factors driving it but with no resolution in sight.