Zebra Crossing

Zebra Crossing is a kinetic black and white film (with a touch of colour at the end.) It is inspired by the French Film La Haine (The Hate.)

It is set in tower blocks in South London and focuses on a group of young white men on the edge and fatalistic which the media will have us believe are unrepresented in British television or film.

My word they do seem to be the subject of a lot of low budget films. How about some films of young white men living in a council estate with a job and just doing their best to make something of themselves legitimately sometime this millennium?

These group of four young men are not nice. They are racist, homophobic, petty thieves and come to the attention of the police.

Right at the start we see them bashing two gay men, later inciting racial violence. They are on the verge of going to a dark path unchecked.

Tommy is the most wild, unpredictable and violent. Justin his best friend is excluded from college with a sick, disabled sister, a violent, drunk father and whose mother has abandoned them.

Justin seems to want out of the spiral and shows a sensitive side. He seeks solace in a church where he encounters a mysterious black man.

When the gang enter a world of hard drugs, drug dealing and later become skinheads the outcome looks bleak and divisions are exposed.

The film is kinetic and wild, especially the way it's edited but the debut director loses focus now and then and some of it does not make sense.

It does not help that the film lacks light, with so many not nice people, the viewer can be easily repulsed and offended by the actions of these men. However the main issue is that apart from a slice of life in a council tower block setting, the film does not offer much by way of a coherent story.

Justin, the main character, is an 18 yo guy. He and his friends abuse drugs, fight, run away from police, and even shoot at people. Basically, all this (well, barring the crime) reminds us of the behavior of pre-teen kids on a playground or at a break in school. From time to time Justin feels that his friendship isn't going to bring him anything good in his life. His severely ill sister and a ghost-like black man in the church are the only people who support him. What will be the outcome of the story? Well, don't expect a happy ending here, otherwise this wouldn't be a drama. The environment we grow up in affects us very much, at times making it impossible to even realize a way to improve ourselves.

What I personally dislike is the way sound is mixed in this movie. Unnecessarily loud music pieces make it difficult to recognize speech sometimes. On the other hand, the choice of black and white filming with a color appearing in the very end makes sense and complements the story very well.

All in all, a good idea slightly poorly implemented.

zebra crossing is simply an amazing film, the grit of harry brown with the sleek style of lock stock, slightly typical British gangster plot but brings the top traits of all the greats together in perfect unison. you'll be hooked from start to finish and that's another joy, it's short and snappy but manages to carry on some memorable dialogue that will keep you smiling for weeks after,

some superb sequences and genuine cast make this easily the best flick of the year so far, but it is only February, the one flaw is the story is something we've all see before, also i worry that being black and white will put some people off but for those that do see it, you will love it