Kicks
Kicks is showing at the 2009 London Film Festival
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By inthenews. |  |
Tuesday, 13, Oct 2009 11:17
Showing at the London Film Festival on October 22nd (18:30), October 24th (14:15)
General release not yet confirmed
By Lewis Bazley.
From a look at the world of WAG culture you'd be fair in expecting frighteningly orange tans, hair extensions that merit definition as follicles and vulgar displays of wealth. With her feature debut, developed as part of Liverpool's reign as European Capital of Culture, Lindy Heyman eschews your preconceptions and delivers a confident and unsettling drama, with two superb performances from its young leads.
Mining the same grey, desolate depictions of the Merseyside city as David Morrissey's Don't Worry About Me - another London Film Festival film from a first-time director - Heyman's film is simple, touching and far darker than the premise would have you believe.
While Nichola Burley is forceful as the glamorous and naively streetwise Jasmine, Kerrie Hayes (playing Nicole) carries the same eerie strangeness as Samantha Morton. The pair might seem unlikely friends but their shared adoration of Liverpool player Lee Cassidy (Jamie Doyle) brings them together, with the partnership taking a dangerous turn when they learn of Cassidy's imminent departure to Real Madrid.
Though the youth of both actresses shows when their character behaviour becomes inconsistent towards the climax, Hayes remains impressive and watchable. Her face is simultaneously precocious and world-weary face, as well as looking far younger than her 23 years, making her obsession all the more unsettling.
The star player is moved to remark "this is so f****d up" as the de facto sisters' plans hit a series of stumbling blocks and the audience can't help but agree, with the film losing its momentum after the girls discover more about the private life of a footballer than they would have cared to know. Their behaviour grows increasingly strange and concurrently inauthentic and lengthy silent stretches leave Kicks feeling like it's gone deep into extra time, despite its 81 minute running time.
Happily, the climax is heart-stoppingly intense and though the promise of the plot is never fully realised, Hayes makes a startling big screen debut and Heyman reveals a fine talent for slowly teasing out a character's internal darkness.