Dead Man Running Film

The film 'Dead Man Running' is an example of contemporary Brit Crime Thriller genius in terms of storyline. It is written and directed by Alex De Rakoff, and this is perhaps why the storyline is so well done. The actual cinematography used throughout the film is not special, and no shots really jumped out of the screen at me like The Layer Cake did. However, the narrative is done extremely well over the hour and a half of the film.

• There are no settings in the film, bar the last two minutes of it, that say that it is set in London, however, the estates shown and accents used (cockney rhyming slang mainly) and the diverse nature of people shown imply that it is based in the Capital until this iconic shot:
• The reason i praise the narrative so highly is because whilst the main narrative featuring Danny Dyer and Tamer Hussain (staple Brit Crime Thriller actors) are carrying out one storyline, there is a parallel one featuring the protagonists mother being held hostage by the local hard man. You would expect that the main storyline would be light-hearted and this other parallel would be dark. On the contrast, the main storyline is at points dark and sinister, as well as carrying a form of light-heartedness throughout. The storyline that runs parallel is almost laughable, as this older woman, in a wheelchair, is having two shotguns pointed at her for hours on end and she laughs about it, reads and listens to the radio. She offers him tea and talks to him, to the point where you revisit this one and forget he has guns, and she is hostage to be killed if money does not reach the main bad guy in 24 hours.
• The only cinematography that I really liked was when Hussain has to kill a random man in some woods for money.  He drags him into the woods, away from the van and the driver, and you see a medium close up of him shooting the guy, which then cuts quickly back to the driver's perspective, so a long shot. This happens three times and the juxtaposition allows the audience both the protagonists view, and that of the driver. Later on in the narrative, you find out that hussain has used a fake gun previously given to him and he doesn't actually shoot the man, and this is why you see the long shot, because the driver tells his boss that the target is dead, and Hussain is given the money.
• The soundtrack is very british, and modern, to the point that I recognized all of the main songs played, showing that my generation can really relate to that, as well as other aspects of the film.

BH