London Road – movie review

Hailed as a remarkable, ground-breaking work during two sell-out runs at London’s National Theatre, the feature film adaptation of the musical London Road reunites that award winning team. The script is by Alecky Blythe, music from Adam Cork and direction from Rufus Norris (Broken).

London Road documents the events that shook Suffolk in 2006, when the quiet rural town of Ipswich was shattered by the discovery of the bodies of five women, all of them prostitutes. The residents of London Road had struggled for years with frequent soliciting and kerb crawling on their street. The movie follows the community that found itself at the epicentre of this tragic turn of events. Using their own words set to an innovative musical score, London Road tells a story of ordinary people coming together during the darkest of experiences.

The ensemble cast includes Olivia Colman, Clare Burt, Rosalie Craig, Anita Dobson, James Doherty, Hal Fowler, Kate Fleetwood, Linzi Hateley and Nick Holder. They are joined by Claire Moore, Michael Shaeffer, Nicola Sloane, Paul Thornley, Howard Ward, Duncan Wisbey and Tom Hardy (in a very small role as a taxi driver).

So, to my feelings about the film … Why oh why would you make a movie musical about this? The result is horrible. Yes, I get that the filmmakers chose to use the actual words spoken during three years of interviews conducted with London Road residents and prostitutes in the aftermath of the slayings. After seeing this, let me suggest they shouldn’t have, because save for a shock towards the end where a resident says something unexpected, you get very much the pedestrian … the expected. The way the characters suddenly go from the spoken word to the melodious and back again is extremely off-putting.

The story lacks depth. The lyrics are bland and repetitive. The only feint praise I can offer is those behind the project were brave to try this … but unfortunately I give it a big fat “F” for fail. Perhaps it worked better as a stage musical. I will let you into a little secret, I am a prolific attendees of musicals and theatrical productions. I have a soft spot for them. I see almost everything that is released in the mainstream market – and generally love what is turned out, so I feel extremely well qualified to comment on London Road.

Seriously, I felt like leaving when they first broke out into song, which came after a turgid opening where they established the fact that they were interviewing residents who lived through the murders. And another important piece of background information, I am a huge fan of National Theatre. I have seen a number of NT Live productions and witnessed two plays for myself on back-to-back nights when I was in London recently. The fact that this marks their first foray into traditional cinema made it all the more disappointing for me.I care nought that overseas reviews have generally been favourable. That doesn’t make one jot of difference to my call on London Road, which in four words is “give it a miss”. The subject matter is perfect for a straight documentary or traditional feature, but a movie musical – come now!

Rated MA, it scores a 3 out of 10.

Director: Rufus Norris
Cast: Olivia Colman, Clare Burt, Rosalie Craig, Anita Dobson, James Doherty, Hal Fowler, Kate Fleetwood, Linzi Hateley, Nick Holder, Claire Moore, Michael Shaeffer, Nicola Sloane, Paul Thornley, Howard Ward, Duncan Wisbey and Tom Hardy
Release Date: 24 September, 2015
Rating: MA15+

Alex First