“Blue Story,” set against a backdrop of gang wars in southeast London, tells the story of two close friends who become violent rivals. Although their vendettas escalate, the rift’s origins are fundamentally arbitrary: The public-housing authorities placed them “on different ends,” in areas that would give them perceived different allegiances.
That bit of narration is rapped by Andrew Onwubolu, the writer-director, who goes by Rapman and hails from southeast London. He appears onscreen periodically to comment on the action. “Blue Story” began as a 2014 series on YouTube, where Rapman’s videos brought him a following that led to this first feature.
Initially, Timmy (Stephen Odubola) and Marco (Micheal Ward) are inseparable, though Marco’s brother (Eric Kofi-Abrefa), a gang leader, doesn’t like the idea that Marco is hanging out in Timmy’s part of town. The friends’ loyalty to each other dominates all else: When, at a party, the shy Timmy is at last dancing with the girl he likes (Karla-Simone Spence), he has to stop to defend Marco in a fight.
Premonitions of tragedy hover over everything: Which character — or characters — will be senselessly killed? The film has a powerful sense of place, with details that feel authentic and, in some cases, lived through. Yet Rapman’s civic-minded lyrics (“There really ain’t no winners when you’re playing with them guns”) have a habit of reducing the drama to tidy morals.
The movie was the subject of controversy in Britain last fall — some theater chains pulled it, with one, Vue, doing so after a fight broke out at a theater in Birmingham, England, though Rapman challenged the idea that the incident had anything do with “Blue Story.” While theaters aren’t part of the picture now, either fighting or canceled screenings would seem odd reactions to a movie with an earnest pacifist message.
Blue Story
Rated R. Cyclical bloodshed. Running time: 1 hour 31 minutes. Rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video, iTunes, Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators.
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May 06, 2020 at 01:25AM
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‘Blue Story’ Review: Gang Wars in Southeast London - The New York Times
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