DVD & BluRay

THE MARKER Kaleidoscope, cert 15 DVD £7.99

WOW, here’s a Brit crime thriller that isn’t about East End diamond geezers using shooters to win a gang war. Sure, it’s tough, but there’s a moral core and a ghostly twist. Full marks to director Justin Edgar (of We Are The Freaks) for creating one of the most original crime thrillers since Mona Lisa (and Cathy Tyson from that classic even gets a role!) Star of the show is up-and-coming Frederick Schmidt who was impressive alongside Tom Hardy in Starred Up. He plays small time Birmingham crook Marley, who’s haunted by the spectre of a woman he killed in a panic when she was defending her child as he and other masked thugs broke into her house to rip off Romanian hoodlums, on the orders of vicious Irish mafia boss Brendan (John Hannah – pictured). Marley goes down for seven years and shares his cell with the very earthly looking ghost of his victim (a powerful mute performance from Ana Ularu). He promises her he’ll find her daughter and make sure she’s safe when he gets out. On release he’s soon back under Brendan’s thumb and to his horror discovers the girl (Lara Peake) is now in the clutches of human traffickers, and she doesn’t trust her mother’s killer. Can Marley find redemption while saving the girl – and himself? Who starred in Mona Lisa? Entries to Alex Gordon, Marker competition by October 19.