Ill Manors

Ill Manors (9/10)
Genre: Drama/Crime
Director: Ben Drew
Cast: Riz Ahmed, Ed Skrein, Lee Allen, Keef Coggins, Anouska Mond
Country: UK
Language: English
Year: 2012

I went absolute bonkers after watching this exquisite piece of cinematic brilliance titled: Ill Manors. I remember saving it on my IMDB watchlist, many years ago, but never bothered to watch it for obvious reasons - high rating, but no one talks about it. Boy! What a terrible mistake. I fail to ascertain - why Ill Manors never got the attention it deserves? Sadly, the answer is within the question itself - the petty commercialization of bad and mediocre cinema by corporations as opposed to independent and meaningful cinema. 

It is excruciating to see the sad plight of cinema all across the globe. Ill Manors is a film with no big names, except for Riz Ahmed and Ed Skrein, who were unknown faces at that time. Ill Manors can be regarded as Trainspotting meets hip hop. It has drama, crime, drugs,  excellent hip-hop music with original songs. The most inventive and innovative thing in the film is the use of hip hop songs as narration to explain the backstories of characters or commentary of the story, induced as mini music videos. 

The importance of character-driven stories is the prime focus of this film. The storytelling is non-linear, and the culmination of different events involving different characters is beyond admiration. Ben Drew, known to his fans as Plan B, a multi-talented English rapper, is the mastermind behind this twisted tale of life on the streets. 

The way the film is shot, edited, and directed makes it a critical study material in film schools, at least I'll recommend any budding filmmaker to watch it to understand the craft of filmmaking. There is a lot of profanity, drug-use, sex, and violence, which might feel a little offensive if you don't like films with mature content.

The story is about drug dealers, prostitutes, criminals, addicts, and teenagers whose lives get intertwined under unfortunate circumstances. 

The more I talk about Ben Drew, the less it is. There's a reason BBC films chose him, and he delivers with flying colors. To write, direct, and co-compose a film like this requires immeasurable talent - Ben Drew has plenty. Initially, he made it as a short film before creating the feature-length version. Now, there are not too many familiar faces apart from Riz and Ed, but to point a single performance in the film will be a heinous crime. Every actor in every character will give you goosebumps with their acting performance. 

As many as four editors contributed to the film's editing, and it is one of the best films in terms of film-editing. The non-linear storytelling is seamless, thanks to the skillful editing of Farrah Drabu, David Freeman, Sotira Kyriacou, and Hugh Williams. Gary Shaw's cinematography captures the intensity and plights of street life. The music and original songs are brilliant, take that from a guy who is not into hip-hop at all. I am playing the songs on loop. 

Ill Manors is now one of my favorite films of all time, perhaps one of the best British films I have seen, and will highly recommend to anyone who loves independent, innovative, and invoking cinema. Of course, the taste might vary from person to person.