BLUE STORY
Gang related…
The British urban drama gets a serious boost with this intense and propulsive tale of London gang rivalry, written and directed by grime artist Rapman. Like his preceding hit YouTube-released short trilogy Shiro’s Story, Rapman can be seen at points on-screen narrating the action with one of his rhymes, lending Blue Story a unique musical flavour that sets it apart from the likes of Kidulthood and Adulthood.
With deadly knife crime currently so rife in London, the story feels unfortunately timely. We follow the Deptford-raised Timmy (Stephen Odubola), who goes to school in Peckham where he befriends local kid Marco (Micheal Ward). But events – and miscommunication – transpire to leave these two on separate sides of a rapidly escalating postcode war, where tragedy soon becomes an inevitability.
Relentless in its use of profane street-level slang (comparable to The Wire, you might say), the script is equally uncompromising in its depiction of the hair-trigger violence that comes with the turf. But there’s nothing gratuitous in a raw approach that sees Rapman intent on showing the consequences of joining a gang. It’s not as cinematic, say, as Boyz N The Hood, and the ‘rapnarration’ rather falls by the wayside as the film unfolds, which is a small shame. But bolstered by cast-iron turns from Top Boy star Ward and Odubola, a virtual newcomer to the big screen, it’s the sort of story that hits hard and leaves a mark. James Mottram