You is off-key

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's top 50 films of 2023

#31 :  Pretty Red Dress

Terrific performances from Natey Jones, Alexandra Burke and Temilola Olatunbosun match this big-hearted music drama about masculinity.

I'd never heard of this until I read the year-end lists and it popped up on quite a few, so I'm intrigued to see it - but I've no idea what a "big-hearted music drama about masculinity" might involve.

We meet Travis (Natey Jones) just as he gets out of prison and heads back home to his partner Candice (Alexandra Burke) and their daughter Kenisha (Temilola Olatunbosun). Candice works in a supermarket but gets an audition to play Tina Turner - and whilst they're out shopping for something for her to wear for the audition, guess what they come across? And, let's just say it has quite the impact on all their lives - the plot didn't go in the most surprising of directions for me, but it's well done with some tense moments and tricky conversations along the way. They all felt reasonably realistic - it's written with some feeling and there's some great familial tension in there too. It's maybe a bit overly melodramatic at times, but it has a very tender and surprisingly uplifting ending to it.

The acting is top notch from all the main characters. I'm sure I recognised Natey from something, but IMDB isn't pointing me at anything except an episode of Casualty - he goes through quite the wringer in this and he takes you with him all the way. Alexandra is also along for the ride - she's considerably better than I was expecting (and of course she also gets to do some singing). Together, they make a reasonably believable couple who are trying to find their way together on what isn't the easiest of paths. Temilola is great in her debut - it looks at the start of the film like she's just going to be a moody teenager but the role grows into something more along the way.

And it's impressively shot - there's good use of light and colour throughout the film with a lot of focus on faces, fully trusting the actors to deliver and they repay the faith shown in them. Overall, it's both a far better and more enjoyable film than I was expecting - it's not going to set the world alight, but it's well written, acted and shot and sometimes that's more than enough! At the time of writing, it's available to stream on BFIPlayer or to rent in the usual places - if you fancy a surprisingly touching UK indie film, then I think this may fit the bill for you nicely.

#32 - Impressive - although impressively long
#30 - Could have been better

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