Release

Following their debut with street drama ‘Shank’, Darren Flaxstone and Christian Martin return with another exposé of gay life in turmoil. Disgraced Father Gillie relieves the tension of prison by shacking up with guard Martin, while keeping an eye on troubled young scrapper Rook. But predictable problems arise: the real villains want a piece of Rook, and Gillie is powerless to protect him.

Flaxstone and Martin have improved as filmmakers, and, despite its low budget, the look of ‘Release’ is grimly convincing. But this presents new problems: with the rough edges of the earlier film replaced by a relative slickness, script and acting issues are more obvious. Perhaps the biggest problem is that there’s nothing we haven’t seen before: shower room shenanigans, cruel wardens and holy innocents marching towards an unconvincing date with destiny. Disappointing.