Ill Manors Film Review:

Directed by Ben Drew (aka Plan B), Ill Manors is set in east London and explores the lives of various characters caught up in the world of drugs, gangs, prostitution and violence. Riz Ahmed stars as Aaron, a low level dealer who tracks his best friend Ed's (Ed Skrein) stolen phone to crack addict Michelle (Anouska Mond) and is then shocked when Ed makes her prostitute herself in order to pay him back.

Then, things get worse for Aaron when he is left with an abandoned baby after the mother, Katya (Natalie Press), leaves it on his train; after searching all day and night to find her, he eventually allows Ed to sell the baby to a couple that run they're  local pub (Jo Hartley and Lee Whitlock). 

Meanwhile, Jake (Ryan de la Cruz Indianda) falls in with gang leader Marcel (Nick Sagar), and is forced to prove himself by shooting a very well known rival dealer Kirby (Keef Coggins), but he accidentally shoots another rival drug dealer "Chris" (Joshua Osei) little sister in the process.

Drew, who also wrote the script and lyrics to the songs featured, has done an excellent job of creating and holding together this crazy narrative that shows firstly how each character is affected and influenced by their environment, and how the decisions they each make effect different lives. Each story is accompanied with a narrative 'track' by Drew himself. For some audiences the music may not be within their tastes, yet the quality of the narrative and the performances should be more than enough to entertain.

The main problem with the film is that the plot feels overly exaggerated attempting to shock the audience in a way that isn't true. (we hope that the chicken shop prostitution thing isn't taken from real life). Similarly, the downbeat atmosphere eventually takes its toll over the near two hour running time and the film could have used a little more in the way of humour. Also, I do understand that this was a low budget film but the use of vfx towards the end just didn't work, let alone the storyline of the baby being thrown out is unrealistic but the use of the vfx made it even worse.  (Personally)

The  cast are excellent, particularly Riz Ahmed, who's essentially the lead character (he's the only character on the poster) and Indianda, whose performance (and storyline) were amazing. The script is suitably gritty as Drew soundtracks the film to like its his life, with individual rap tracks laying out each of the character's back-stories as they're shown; this works brilliantly early on, but wears out its welcome a little by the end, since the style of each track is the same. The choice of using many actors really emphasised the fast paced life of London. Also using an Asian as the main character showed a sense of diversity along with the many groups of ethnicity within the actors.

Drew directs with rhythm and pace, aided by some terrific editing that plays around with the story of the film to powerful effect. He creates a strong sense of place and makes  suspense in a number of different scenes.

Very well done for a first film and superbly acted, Ill Manors is a directorial debut from Ben Drew that marks him out as a talent to watch. Worth seeing.