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As Good As It Gets

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

The acting in this movie is really good.

This has a street-wise and gritty feel to it (i.e. no glamour prostitutes in luscious locations). After being forced by her pimp, a prostitute lures a young homeless girl to perform for a client. Things go awry and they are forced to flee. They are then pursued by the pimps plus their clients. It all leads to a forceful conclusion.The pace is frantic throughout as we move from seedy London surroundings to Brighton on the coast of England. The language is colloquial and gives added depth (I had the sub-titles on). Lorraine Stanley (the prostitute) and Georgia Groome (the homeless girl) provide a tough texture for this film.

One of the most harrowing films I have seen in a long time; a little clunky in places, but the superb acting by all involved glosses over that fact. Georgia Groome is especially note-worthy for such a tough role at a young age, the partnership between her and the character of Kelly is believable - making us route for them even more. At every turn, when the film feels it is about to walk into a cliché, especially towards the end, it admirably, if not horrifyingly, veers away. British cinema has always produced some of the best kitchen-sink / social problem films, and London to Brighton stands up as an exceptional addition to that canon.

A prostitute and a young teen girl become the targets of a London mobster after their tryst with the latter's father goes awry. This is an interesting if flawed feature film debut for writer-director Williams, who manages to create a tough and gritty atmosphere inhabited by low-life characters. Williams tries to create tension by using extreme closeups, but he overdoes it to a point where it becomes an annoying gimmick. The plot is simple and efficiently executed, but it doesn't add up to much more than a slight diversion. There are good performances from Stanley as a good-hearted prostitute, Harris as her uptight pimp, and Groome as a runaway teen.

Few films ever live up to expectation, and when I read the blurb for this one I did wonder if there might be a similar letdown.Not likely, though.Paul Andrew Williams has crafted a drama, with thrilling overtones, which could stand almost as a companion piece to Gary Oldman's Nil By Mouth from 1997. Yet this is a film which stands entirely on its own, and even puts Nil By Mouth in the shade with an ending both realistic and poignant.The performances are excellent. Georgia Groome is disturbingly believable as a 12 year-old girl caught in the world of vice, and Lorraine Stanley, as a prostitute caught between her conscience and a need to stay alive, is similarly gut-wrenching. Also effective is Sam Spruell as a very unpleasant man called Stuart Allen, a man representative of the London underworld, and a man determined to track the above two young women down with frightening and horrific consequences.The star turn though, is arguably Johnny Harris. As Derek, he will make your flesh crawl, yet, despite his many shortcomings - and be warned, his character is repellent - there is something also vaguely humorous about him. His facial expressions when talking and listening to his boss are comic to behold. Derek is terrified of Spruell's Mr Allen, and with good reason. That terror, combined with his own greed and need to save his own neck give the film an extra dimension.This is a seriously good film.It is not easy to watch, and some of the violence and language are hard to take, but in a tepid film industry such as Britain's, the arrival of a talent such as this should be noticed.Paul Andrew Williams, it's time to make your next move. May it be as great as this one.