Bullet Boy

Bullet Boy is the sort of film that deserves to be seen by far more people than are, unfortunately, ever likely to see it. It's utterly gripping the whole way through - almost every scene is filled an unbearably tense air of looming tragedy, as events spiral out of control. The cast (a mixture of professionals and non-actors) all give superb, deeply honest performances, most notably Ashley Walters and Claire Perkins.

Where most British films that strive for an air of realism fail by simply trying too hard, laying on the "grittiness" far too thick, Bullet Boy always seems completely natural, unforced and unfailingly true-to-life. While it's undeniably a fairly bleak and upsetting tale, the film is never boring, never depressing, never anything less than wholly involving. Crafting something genuinely special with a very limited budget, this is a great feature debut from documentary maker Dibb. You shouldn't see Bullet Boy because it's an "issue" film (although the issue it addresses is extremely important); you should see it because it's a brilliant film.

'Bullet Boy' is an understated drama about an ex-convict trying to go straight in London's black community. The piece is nicely assembled and acted, and makes good visual use of its Hackney setting, but there's nothing in the story which is ultimately surprising. I also have one quibble: the film features a fair amount of gun usage, but we don't see any underlying criminal activity, which is (I think) usually the root cause of shootings. On the other hand, one strength is that the world of the characters is not depicted as a squalid ghetto, but rather as a place in which one can imagine real people living in. Overall, this is not a bad film; but it is a little bland.

This was a great film. I have been watching a lot of urban type UK films lately and this one is by far my favorite so far. The Uk ghettos are very similar to Canada where I live. When people think of Canada and the UK they don't seem to think there are any ghettos. Where I live in Toronto, Ontario, we are influenced by the States a bit but much more by the sizable Jamaican presence in the area. The film did a good job at depicting how such small issues can grow into something very big and life changing. Ashley Waters is very talented. His performance was very believable.

So far I've seen "Rolling with the Nines"(Sucked), "Kidulthood"(Very good), "Life & Lyrics"(Not too bad, but kinda corny). Does anyone know of any other good movies of this same type to suggest? Peace

I saw this film last night at the Tricycle theatre and I have to say it showed the real look at 'road' life as we know it for our young black brothers. Being Black British myself I really felt the film through the eyes of the mother, Ricky and Curtis, it was a brilliant watch. You may call it typical of movies, but this was a British film with edge and class at getting the message right! I was brought to tears on the way home remembering how many of our brothers are going through and have been through (RIP) this similar scenario, so I know why I appreciate being a mentor to uplift my community

I would like to start off saying that I appreciated the movie for dealing with the black community in London. No rude cockney gangsters, catchy crime scams or laughably stupid dope dealers. The family this movie deals with is a single mum home with two sons, one just out of prison, the other still too young to be involved in anything hazardous, but looking up at his brother and already copying some of his ways.

I enjoyed the language and the characters who were all convincing and complex enough but, how carefully put down they were, the more obvious and stereotypical were the things happening to them. Everything going from bad to worse, who plays with fire is gonna get burnt. And then the ultimate contrast of either sinking into crime and sin (devil), or choosing the righteous path and go to church every Sunday (god).

This easy moralism hurt the rest of the film. It made things predictable. It was like a newspaper article collage, one shock after the other. It took away much of the complexity that I found in the characters themselves. It really is a shame because the development of the characters could have been much more subtle and would have fit in better with the style of the movie that deals with a gritty context matter but managed to use a soft and sometimes almost dreamy camera and score, not unlike other recent British films, such a 'Morvern Callar' and '16 Years of alcohol'.