Adapted from Anthony McGowan’s well-regarded young-adult novel of the same name, this Kickstarter-funded feature revolves around 16-year-old Paul (Jack McMullen), the new kid at an inner-city Leeds school as he navigates the usual cliques and gangs. It’s earnestly didactic, anti-violence stuff, laudably aimed at the impressionable age bracket it depicts. Unfortunately, the acting is painfully weak, especially from the supporting players who mug and shout as if they’re trying to get the attention of the sleepy parents at the back of the hall at a school assembly. The film’s big saving grace is the highly stylised look, produced by shooting entirely in front of green screens with pencil-sketch drawings and photographic fragments spliced in later via visual effects, making the finished product look like a hi-tech version of Lars von Trier’s Dogville. It’s enough to make one very curious about where co-directors Marcus Romer and Kit Monkman will go next. Hopefully, to classes in how to handle actors.
