This year will go down as the one British cinema began to wrestle with the 2011 UK riots. Set against July’s documentary The Hard Stop, Michael Caton-Jones’s drama risks appearing a perilously soft option the moment juvenile care worker/keen chorister Shirley Henderson overhears delinquent diva Jamie (My Brother the Devil’s excellent Letitia Wright) singing Etta James in her bedroom. Thereafter, committed actors nudge Nick Moorcroft’s scenario away from a very familiar, naggingly complacent groove. The riot backdrop recedes, a convenient prompt for teaching the world to sing anew, yet a stronger second half pushes in unexpected directions. Jamie struggles to disentangle herself from damaged roomie Leanne (a snarling Isabella Laughland) – and Caton-Jones’s achievement is to make this a greater challenge than any a cappella arrangement of, say, Don’t Stop Me Now. A mixed bag, but one that comes good in its closing stretch, working its way towards a place of quiet power.
