REVIEW: DOWN TERRACE
THE Sopranos meets The Royale Family in low budget British gangster flick DOWN TERRACE (15).
Just don't expect any Guy Ritchie-esque "mockney" posturing, director Ben Wheatley takes a well-worn genre into fresh new places as a criminal family sit around their house and argue... while conducting a bit of business on the side.
The business involves family head Bill and his son Karl (real-life father and son Robert and Robin Hill) getting to the bottom of who grassed up his son Karl and the investigation ends with a body count.
As a gangster flick, it's forgettable but taken as an uncomfortably claustrophobic sitcom, it's great fun.
Wheatley turns the characters' misery into dark comedy as the gang struggle with the family dynamic and Karl's now-pregnant former girlfriend.
It struggles to sustain the early comic energy for 90 minutes, but this is a refreshing break from the gangster flick norm. - JUSTIN MATLOCK
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