Silver Haze

Vicky knight did an amazing job portraying her character, i feel she was probably able to draw upon her own physical and mental scars from her own burns and her own experience (yes her scars are real) , the character of florence is flawed and messy and annoying, and her story arc was inconclusive to me. I felt also that franky's story deserved a better ending but at least it was somewhat wrapped up, if slightly ambiguous.

I am a fan of these british made films that arent flashy and big budget, but raw and show social/economic issues which is the sad truth many face even today. The sister and mums story was a bit strange and not well developed but i have still given the film a 7 out of 10 as it did a really great job for its budget and its genre :) i will look out for more projects from the director and the main actress.

I am moved to comment on one particular aspect and not the film in general, which was magnificent and has been reviewed well. The night I began watching Silver Haze I paused it about 40 minutes in and left it for about two weeks. It was the Florence character which disturbed me, and when I finally finished the film I felt utterly vindicated for being hesitant at seeing what happens with her. The signs were there early that this is a tragic person--what I would diagnose superficially as having symptoms consistent with borderline personality disorder. She says she's a bad person early in the film, and it brought a tear to my eye. The scene where she flips and tells the woman she's fallen in love with that she doesn't like her anymore made me ball shamefully, because it is so familiar. The splitting, the nature of love/intimacy to a borderline person is fleeting and turns as quickly to disgust as it developed into love. It's unstoppable, and I felt for both of them, especially Florence. It's one thing to be able to walk away from her, it's another to be inside her, feeling that always. Love and disgust are far too fluid for borderlines, this is something inescapable, and it's the reason why we're labeled by others and consider ourselves 'bad people', and why relationships are difficult at best. I am really happy that I watched it and I'm equally happy I left the final 40 for a time when I was better equipped to handle the content. 8/10.

You won't find a dramatic film of more emotional intelligence or intuitive compassion so far this year than Sacha Polak's Silver Haze, a striking coming of age drama that highlights many of the blunt, difficult truths life hurls our way in straightforward fashion not often seen in storytelling. Vicky Knight is a wonder as Franky, a young nurse from working class London who was burned horribly in a building fire as a child, an event she still feels was done on purpose and seeks the perpetrators of, who may be painfully close to home. She strikes up romance with another young girl (Esme Creed-Miles) on suicide watch in the hospital she works in, a turbulent coupling of two souls who have both been through unimaginable trauma and begin to find a modicum of solace in each other, before life has new curveballs to throw both of them. This is a heartbreaking film that doesn't rely on sentimentality to get its point across and make you feel something, it's all about the actors here and they are stunning. Knight was in a fire for real, her scars are genuine and she uses her experience to haunting effect here, giving a multifaceted, mesmerizing turn. Miles has the more difficult role and her character is often easy to judge or dislike, but we the audience know almost nothing of her past beyond the fact the she is a runaway who ended up in the suicide ward, she gives subtle hints in her challenging, thought provoking and searingly human performance. This is a film of unbelievable depth, uncommon emotional complexity and hypnotic, gorgeous London atmosphere, its only Polak's third feature as a filmmaker and she has already achieved what some artists strive for their whole career. A brilliant film, one of the best so far this year.

Franky (Vicky Knight) is a nurse who's badly scarred by a fire that happened when she was a child (Knight herself was burned as a child - the scars are real). She believes the fire was started deliberately by her mother's friend, who's now in a relationship with her (Franky's) father from whom she's estranged. Fifteen years on, Franky still dreams of revenge.

In hospital, Franky meets Florence (Esme Creed-Miles), the survivor of a suicide attempt. The two develop a friendship, and later become lovers, though they later break up. Prompted by Florence, Franky's quest for revenge develops into something more tangible.

The rest of the cast have their own stories to tell: Franky's mother, who spends her entire life on the sofa; Franky's sister, who's dabbling with Islam (she has a shawl and a prayer mat, but hasn't cottoned on to the fact that she's no longer allowed alcohol); Florence's grandmother (the excellent Angela Bruce) who has terminal cancer: Florence's brother, who has learning difficulties...

It can't be said that any character in the film is less than three-dimensional, but for me this added up to too many sub-plots and an over-crowded film.

As a depiction of British working-class life it's sharp and observant (without stooping to poverty porn) and the acting is solid throughout - as is the direction.

The ending is not the on the viewer expects, and might leave some disappointed by its slightly ambiguous nature, but I thought it worked well.

Hospital nurse Franky (Vicky Knight) is covered with burn scars from a fire 15 years ago when she was a child. She meets troubled patient Florence (Esme Creed-Miles) who tried to commit suicide. She suspects her mother's friend having set the fire and it continues to haunt her.

This is an intriguing character. I wasn't sure if the scars are real. I figured that a low budget indie would have difficulty doing big-time prosthetics. She's a very compelling actress with a completely unique look. The lower budget does have one drawback. This is setting up for a flashback reveal of the fire during most of the movie. Of course, there is no way for them to film a full-blown bar fire on a limited budget. The movie misses not having that scene.