Still.

Set around Kings Cross and the Caledonian Road in North London Simon Blake's debut feature film leaves you feeling in need of a good shower.   Still (2014) takes you on a dark trip into the decline of Tom Carver a man who is still grieving over the death of his son killed in a hit and run accident 12 months previous, followed by his marriage breakdown and eventual divorce from his wife Rachel (Amanda Mealing). Both parents are seen visiting their sons grave together and although both are in separate relationships Rachel is deeply concerned about Tom's mental state driven by his ever increasing dependency on drink and drugs - not helped Rachel thinks by his friendship with the seedy journalist Ed (Jonathan Slinger). Things get worse for photographer Tom who during a photo assignment at a local school meets schoolboy Jimmy whose brother was killed in a street gang fight. Somehow Tom clashes with a gang led by the 15 year old Carl (Sonny Green) who seems to begrudge his mentorship of Jimmy. This leads to a mutilated cat dumped on his doorstep, shit put through his letterbox and eventually the violent gang rape of his live in girlfriend Christina (French actress Elodie Yung) followed by Jimmy’s hospitalisation due to a very severe beating by the gang. Although the police are now involved Tom, spurred on by Ed, begins to realise that he will need to deal with the situation personally.

Adapted by Blake from his play Lazarus Man it's a movie with obvious enough ambition but I'm not really sure if I liked this film? It was an unsavoury experience where the main character Tom, played with great skill admittedly by Aidan Gillian, is not someone that you would empathise with, but to be frank there’s not a character that's particularly likeable in the whole movie! A film that takes along while to get where it's going and I would repeat what other critics have opined in that your never really sure what genre this fits into, a thriller, a vengeance drama or more likely in my opinion a psychiatric study of a man who gradually slides down the slippery pole of paranoia and nastiness. It would be interesting to hear what others made of this film?