White Powder

If you are looking for a film which not only entertains, but can also make you think, "White Powder" is for you! On the surface, it is just another story about drugs and gangsters; on a deeper level, one can see it as a film about the sheer unpredictability of life, the complexity of human emotions and the importance of not jumping to assumptions. At the same time, there are moments of brilliant, grotesque (and sometimes very dark) humour scattered throughout this movie...

I loved the subplot where one of the main characters is torn between his possessive girlfriend and another girl. I also loved the fact that none of the gangsters in the movie is a simplistic bad guy. However, the film does have some shortcomings - the female characters could have been more developed and more complex and I found the ending somewhat unconvincing.

There's some brilliant acting: Jason Deer is truly menacing and very believable in the role of one of the gangsters, Judson Vaughn is brilliant as a good-natured, but cunning petty drug dealer, George McCluskey is quite impressive as a paranoid gang boss, and Nicole McBride gives her all and more as a possessive, nagging girlfriend. I have also to mention the hilarious cameos by the two co-directors, Dziko Kazembe and Marek Dabrowski, and by Sarah Fronckevic...

Last but not least, the soundtrack by Rémi Brossier is splendid and perfectly fits the film!

Not great. Looks good in parts, but some of the camerawork is dreadful. Some of the acting is OK, but there are too many characters to really be able to follow what's going on and the script doesn't really hang together. Probably best avoided.

Seriously though, the acting is laughable. It's so poor it's a discrace to all actors to even call it acting. The thing that is really funny though is the actors go from trying to put on a Jamaican accent, to a cockney accent to a posh accent all in 1 sentence without even realising. I sat here in disbelief at seeing probably the worst acting I've ever seen in 40 years before turning it off and coming here to read how it was possible that a film like this could be rating at 7 stars. Avoid like the plague

White power is a slow burner that leaves you breathless when it ignites. The beginning of the film introduces you to the many colourful characters that will inhabit your world for the next hour or so. As the story lines weave you are left wondering how they will all relate to the main story featuring Yasmin.

Yasmin is a lapdancer, who comes across a stash of cocaine and decides to team up with Justin, a lovable wideboy, in order to sell the drugs. We soon learn that the drugs actually belong to Big Ron, a key underworld boss, and a man definitely not to be messed with. Big Ron decides to recruit 2 local henchmen, known locally as the Headhunters, to find the people who stole his drugs. Keen to impress Big Ron, the Headhunters set out in ruthless pursuit for the drugs.

I really do not want to spoil the film for you by giving you any further information on the plot lines. However, I would like to point out that the film is totally unpredictable. I found myself trying to guess what will happen in crucial scenes and each time I was wrong in my prediction. Once the film got going it moved so quickly that it felt like a roller coaster ride. Whit Powder is fast and intense and in fact I didn't want it to end.

The cast is superb and very believable. As a Londoner this is the first film in a long while I have seen that feels like it is set in London. The characters felt very real and the casting was spot on. The cast is very diverse and representative of London but what I really liked is that there are no stereotypes in this film.

For instance the 2 actors who play the Polish bar girls are mixed raced/dual heritage. This made me question my own prejudices and assumptions about Polish people. Another instance is that there is a transexual male character in the film and not one mention of this by any of the characters in the film. I literally had to google the actors name to confirm this. Another additional bonus is the lead character is female and never once did this decision feel forced.

I also learnt that the film was made for £3,000 which makes the film even more remarkable. I am an Indie film lover and It is very rare to see a film made on such a low budget to feature so many characters and locations. I take my hat off to the producers and directors for pulling this off.

To conclude I gave this 10 stars because a/ The story line and plot is both intriguing and unpredictable b/ The acting is great c/ The music score really enhances the film D/ I do not think you wil see a better film based on the same budget.

If you like Indie films and are not expecting a flawless production I highly recommend this film.

This wasn't released, it got out by accident. Written by a kindergarten class, acted by martinettes, director must have been somewhere else. Opening scenes, woman climbs stairs, enters small lavatory, no shower in sight - comes out wearing pulled up towel. Next scene man and woman talking, different woman, but also wearing towel? Special offer on towels that day Newsman makes libellous statements to policeman. Went downhill after that. I did well, survived 2 minutes of it. Dreadful, rubbish.