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Bookmark this pageLife & Lyrics (2005)
Director: Richard Laxton
Movie review
From Time Out London
A banal set-up realised through a clichéd script, mediocre direction and shallow performances, this tower-block hip hop amalgam of ‘Hustle & Flow’ and ‘Romeo and Juliet’ doesn’t have much going for it. Danny (Ashley Walters) is an aspiring DJ-producer and leader of the Motion Crew, whose rivalry with the black-clad Hard Cash Crew is muddied by his relationship with Carmen (Louise Rose), the Hard Cash leader’s cousin. Carmen’s lega training offers an aspirational model of social mobility – but has she betrayed her passion for music? Meanwhile, Danny’s best friend Fable (Chris Steward) is going off the rails and the rap battle finals loom…‘Life & Lyrics’ offers nothing to quicken the pulse: writer Ken Williams might have experience in urban music and youth work – parentlessness is a potent but underdeveloped theme here – but his dialogue is consistently tin-eared, and you could set your watch by the formulaic pacing. Last-minute director and TV veteran Richard Laxton struggles to bring energy even to the violent scenes and gets little help from his flat cast. Walters is a conspicuously inert central presence: there’s one shot that’s meant to show Danny wrestling with his demons and deciding the course of his life, but he looks for all the world like he’s waiting for a bus. Speaking of which, it’s illustrative of the low bar the film sets itself that its attempt to showcase London consists of literally plonking its leads on a sightseeing double-decker.
Author: Ben Walters
Time Out London Issue 1884: September 27-October 4 2006
Cast & crew
Director: Richard Laxton
Producer: Fiona Neilson, Esther Douglas
Cast: Ashley Walters, Louise Rose, Chris Steward, Karl Collins full cast
Rated: 15
Duration: 100 mins
UK Release: Sep 29 2006
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