Young Soul Rebels

1977: Queen's Silver Jubilee year. Two London soul-boys want their pirate radio station to reach a wider public; but Chris (Nonyela) is distracted both by the big-time lure of the mainstream 'Metro' station and by Tracy (Okonedo), while Caz (Sesay) reacts to what he sees as his old friend's betrayal by taking up with gay socialist-worker punk Billibud (Durr). Worse, the cops suspect Chris of murdering one of Caz's gay friends in the park. Julien's brave, ambitious first feature makes all the right noises in terms of its sensitive treatment of thorny problems like racism and homophobia, and is largely successful in recreating various alternative cultural realities to the jingoistic claptrap which stands as the 'official' history of Britain during the summer of '77. Sadly, despite a strong soul soundtrack and fine camerawork, the film suffers from weak performances and an undernourished script that never frames its ideas within a gripping narrative.