Review: The Knife That Killed Me (film)

The Knife That Killed Me. (out today 27th April!! See link below to Amazon)

Although I love film I am not prone to writing film reviews as my professional time is taken up writing for the theatre. In the case of the film The Knife That Killed Me, written and directed by Marcus Romer and Kit Monkman I make a huge exception. I interviewed Marcus Romer and some of Pilot Theatre's cast for the touring production of Antigone earlier this year and reviewed the play at its launch at Derby Theatre. Intrigued by the green screen work and other media used in Antigone I was very keen to see what they have done with Anthony McGowan's novel The Knife That Killed Me.

 

The Knife That KilledMe is destined to become a cult classic – big time. The dark story of teenager Paul (Jack McMullen) and his haulage driver dad (Reece Dinsdale) arriving at a new home in Yorkshire after the accidental death of Paul's mother is discovered through a moving collage of Graphic Novel intensity. This is no ordinary teenage angst story but a knife wielding bloody symphony of startling imagery with the dark brooding clouds of wintry adversary always on the bleak Yorkshire horizon. If the director ever said “cut” in the filming process I for one would have stood well back.

The production values are exceptionally high and cleverly wrought taking the viewer through transparent sets lined with hand written text and graffiti. The result is a kind of magical hell. The attention to detail in every frame is phenomenal. Cameras swirl through many a creative angle to switch from gritty location to gritty location and the pot smoking scene with Paul's school friend Shane (Oliver Lee) is pure genius as the smoke rises up and up through the roof of a house depicted in a simple line drawing white on black.

The Acheronian world of the dangerous teenage gangs and their cronies is the main theme throughout coupled with the confusions of teenage love and deliberate lies woven by kids at the school to protect, survive and to deliberately deceive. Actor Jamie Shelton exudes quiet menace as gang leader Roth. On the opposite side of the bleak housing estate resides Goddo played with 'dressed to kill' revengeful swagger by Charles Mnene. This is a scary young man who delights in beating up the vulnerable but is sensitive about his dead dog. Theatrical joke alert. No-one would want to hanging around the playground waiting for this Goddo.

The hero Paul who speaks regularly about 'The Knife That Killed Me' is played with great understatement by Jack McMullen and his desperate story of just wanting to be accepted/loved must resonate with us all, teenagers or adults. The scene where he physically and verbally attacks his father is universal and ends with a cruel irony.

The film leads us into many a dark corner, has a superbly actualised gang fight and a brilliant twist in the telling which is very hard to predict. No spoilers in this review. I found this intelligent film utterly compelling at a cinema preview. It is dark, has a savage hypnotic humour, is visually unique and when it is released on DVD (27^th April) I predict it will be racing up the charts to No1.


                                                       


Lastly, I watch a lot of film and The Knife That Killed Me is the best British film I have seen in years. Equally to be lauded are the wealth of young acting talent in the cast and the directorship of Marcus Romer.

Official website.

Thanks for a great 2014. Here's to this year!

2014 Highlights: Having the chance to talk to and interview Warwick Davis, Joe McGann, Shobna Gulati, John Godber, Brian Conley, Johnny Pusztai, Howard Brenton and Marcus Romer with Roy Williams. Also having great mates in Rick and Janette Martindale , Cibele Ponces Alvarenga, Lena Maier, Thorsten Feldmann, Carsten Thein, Markus Kűnstler, and Paul Johnson and Fariba from Sardines Magazine. You guys at Sardines have made my year with all the opportunities to write and to be professionally published.

 

Thanks to the The Public Reviews for all the chances to review theatre and shows across the East Midlands. Your exacting standards make my writing better and my theatrical eye keener. Many thanks.

Especial thanks to all at the Jakobus Theatre for hosting my first professional show ‪#‎greetingsfromthetrenches‬ and all at the Theater Die Käuze for supporting it. Of course it wouldn't have happened with the fun and professional work of my great friend Emma Brown. Hopefully see you in Leiden again this summer honey.

Some new friends have entered my life in 2014 not least the wonderful Kev Castle. Many thanks to Jo McLeish for your great support likewise to Heidi McKenzie and all at Derby Theatre especially to Sarah Brigham to access to your rehearsals and to witness your directing styles.

For all the hundreds of followers and readers of my two blogs http://philloweactor.blogspot.co.uk and http://mugofstrongtea.blogspot.co.uk I wish you all a wonderful 2015 and can't wait to see what is around the corner to excite you all through my writing.

Finally thanks to all my colleagues at work who are genuinely interested to see me do well. You know who you are and I appreciate it. xx

 

Happy New Year all.

Antigone at Derby Theatre review.

“No man can be fully known, in soul and spirit and mind until he has been seen versed in rule and law giving” So said the tragedian Sophocles in his play Antigone. Playwright Roy Williams, inspired by the story, gives us a contemporary version set in Thebes; a dark underworld ruled by gang lord Creo. Creo is played with a cool menace and some scary humour by Mark Monero and his character is a force to be reckoned with. His rules have no soul or fairness of spirit and his laws are absolute – disrespect me and you die. The language of this thrilling play is very direct, of the street, dangerous and at times poetic. Roy Williams has done a brilliant job of bringing this classic tale bang up to date for a modern audience. The audience atmosphere in the theatre throughout is tangible. It seems at times that one hardly dare breath as the story unfolds. It sucks you in.

 

 

All conflict is there; Creo's son Eamon, dares to tell his father that listening to the people is a smart move if he wants to stay in power and is expelled from the 'fam' which eventually leads to his tragic death with his lover Antigone. Eamon (Gamba Cole) is superb in this production; all aspects of his portrayal of this Romeo - like character ring true; the vulnerable teenager; the troubled lover of Antigone (Tig); the maturing young man desperate to be loved by his intensely difficult parents.

Modern day audiences will also recognise the Mother- Son relationship between Creo's wife Eunice (Doreene Blackstock) and Eamon as she tries to tell him to stop connecting with the 'inbred' Tig and he back chats her whilst promising not too. A lovely powerful performance by Blackstock, at once caring and yet with an element of danger about her character's personality, born of a hard upbringing herself in Old Thebes.

Tig (Savannah Gordon – Liburd) niece of Creo is very credible throughout as a strong woman out for revenge against Creo for killing her brother Orrin and leaving him uncovered on the street to rot as a warning to others that a similar fate might befall them. Gordon – Liburd particularly shines in the cellar scene where she rails defiantly at fate and the Gods through the CCTV camera trained on her and magnified to electrifying effect on the back wall. Her scene with Eamon before their tragic deaths is a master class of acting where much is said within the silences.

As a counter balance to Tig's angst and anger we have the partially calming presence of Esme, sister of Tig played by Freida Thiel in a superbly understated performance in the siblings' emotional tug of war. Esme becomes the cathartic embodiment of kindness and unexpected forgiveness and generosity that we see at each end of the ninety-two minute theatrical piece.

There is humour throughout the play as we recognise the displays of power struggles unfolding and actor Oliver Wilson puts in a 'blinding' darkly comical performance as old gangster/soothsayer Tyrese who once again tries to tell Creo to have some humanity in acceding to allow the dead to be buried. “... they will move against you, every single one of them. Are you going to throw them all in a dark hole? You might as well throw yourself, you and your own stupid self reproach. This bad bwoi act can only last so far. Believe me I know!”

The whole ensemble of Pilot Theatre's production at Derby Theatre work hard to create a thoroughly engaging world of treachery and danger. Director Marcus Romer's stylish work on this is exemplary as is their trademark use of multi-media within the production. This theatrical work achieved through Derby Theatre, Pilot Theatre and Theatre Royal Stratford East is a brilliant example of exciting and electrifying theatre truly connecting with a modern day audience.

Antigone plays at DerbyTheatre until October 4^th and tours until Spring 2015.

Photos copyright Robert Day

Review originally published by The Big Issue 24th September 2014