kgedwardsd Just finished watching Broken and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute. Fantastic cast from top to bottom and the story had me gripped from the off.If it isn't on your list of productions to watch then add it!! Well done and 10 out of 10 to all involved.

Spikeopath Broken is directed by Rufus Norris and adapted to screenplay by Mark O'Rowe from Daniel Clay's novel. It stars Tim Roth, Eloise Laurence, Robert Emms, Rory Kinnear, Faye Daveney and Cillian Murphy. Music is by Electric Wave Bureau and cinematography by Rob Hardy. Theatre and Opera director Rufus Norris turns his hand to feature film, choosing for his debut a cunning amalgamation of British miserabilism and knowing humour. Story is based in North London and primarily centres on a young girl affectionately known as Skunk! She witnesses a sickening act of violence in the cul de sac where she lives, from here the lives of the residents unfold in a number of identifiable ways. Thematically there's much going on, such observations on life's dilemmas from both a child and parenting point of view are superbly played out by the cast. It would have been easy for the makers to lean too heavy on the melodrama, or perform as if it's a headline torn straight from one of Britain's sensation yearning tabloids, but it's played with earthy realism, helped no end by the fulcrum setting of a residential cul de sac that on the surface looks normal, so therefore believable. But of course what lies behind a neighbour's door is rarely all glint and gold.The concurrent theme of violence, illness, heartbreak, grief, so basically life's strife's, gnaws away at the senses, but this is delicately balanced with much love and charm also on show, be it devotion to one's children, or the innocence of youth - puppy love/whimsy/ignorance/inquisitive leanings et al - this picture jabs at the heart in more ways than one. Norris and his team also have a nifty style of filming and scoring, very much putting us in the various frames of this story. It all builds to what in truth is a very crammed last quarter of film, because if ever there was a case for a much longer running time then this is a classic example. But it's just a niggle, and not enough to derail what is a moving, funny and crafty slice of Britannia. Yes! Even if the daring ending has proved divisive. 9/10

Prismark10 Broken adapted from a novel and directed by Rufus Norris better known for his theatre work. The film is set in a London cul de sac and is a slice of life story with plenty of acknowledgements to the classic novel, 'To kill a Mockingbird.'Eloise Laurence plays Skunk, a cheery 11 year old tomboy who sees her neighbour (Rory Kinnear) severely beat up another neighbour, a mentally challenged teenager (Robert Emms) who he thinks raped his daughter and made her pregnant. The accusation is false as all of Kinner's daughters are malevolent and rough and its not the only accusation of rape they make in the movie.Skunk's dad is a kindly lawyer (Tim Roth) who is respected by many of the other neighbours. They have an au pair who is in a relationship with schoolteacher (Cillian Murphy.) Skunk also starts a budding relationship with another boy at the same time she faces bullying at high school and when Emms returns to the estate after his beating still traumatised, events take a nasty turn.Norris brings the best of his actors as he coaxes both Murphy and Roth back from Hollywood and he definitely gets the most out of the young actors. The script is poor and fights against the film. The Kinnear character should had been thrown in prison for the first beating never mind been allowed to do it again the second time. It does not matter if a traumatized boy does not want to press charges he was in no such state to make a rational decision.The drama with the on/off relationship with the au pair and the teacher as well as the au-pair later getting close to Skunk's dad was rather humdrum.What I disliked the most was people getting bullied, beaten up and no effective action being taken against the perpetrators even if witnessed by teachers for example. Of course the title of the film wants to depict a Broken Britain, damaged people who look for those rays of goodness but this film lacks focus and a cutting edge.

gradyharp For all the horror films that depend on zombies, vampires, werewolves and the like to place a fantasy make believe world before us to frighten us, none is as terrifying as this very realistic, extraordinarily well written, well photographed, well directed and well acted gem from Film Movement. It is a British product (BBC) and seems to have had a minimal response in the theaters. Now more available to the public, hopefully this brilliant work will attract enough attention to place it in the categories for many awards it so justly deserves. But more important, it may expose many people to the tragedies that surround us and are too often unnoticed or misunderstood.In North London there are three families whose houses form a cul-de-sac: Archie (Tim Roth, never better) is a single father whose wife left him to raise 11 year old insulin dependent, adventuresome tomboy Skunk (Eloise Laurence) and her brother Jed (Bill Milner) and their housekeeper Kasia (Zana Marjanovic); The Oswalds – Bob (Rory Kinnear) is an out of control easily enraged father of three loose and trashy daughters Susan (Rosalie Kosky), Saskia (Faye Daveney) and Sunrise (Martha Bryant); and the Buckleys – Mr. and Mrs. Buckley (Denis Lawson and Clare Burt) and their severely mentally challenged son Rick (Robert Emms). Bob Oswald finds a condom that one of his daughters had been exploring, jumps to the conclusion that Rick has raped his daughter, and beats Rick mercilessly – a sight Skunk witnesses. This cruel error is the first play in the downward spiral of this profoundly sad tale of how these three families interact. There are a few subplots – Kasia is dating a local school teacher Mike (Cillian Murphy) as well as trying to convince Archie to marry her, Skunk is befriended and has her first rocky encounter with a boy named Dillon (George Sargeant) and they find an empty trailer house by the nearby junkyard where massive machines toss old cars around like unwanted bugs, one of the Oswald girl's secret pregnancy ends badly, Rick Buckley is blamed for every odd happening and is institutionalized, Skunk's friendship with Rick involves her in tragic consequences, and more. Every member of each family is broken in some way and the manner in which these pieces of shattered lives influence each other makes for some of the most profoundly moving scenes and themes ever filmed.The story is based on the novel by Daniel Clay, adapted for the screen by Mark O'Rowe, and Rufus Norris makes his impressive directing debut. The entire cast is first class – this is the first film experience for Eloise Laurence and she is stunning, as are Tim Roth and Cillian Murphy and the rest. For this viewer this is one of the finest movies of the past year, a film so challenging and exquisitely crafted that it should be seen by everyone. Highly Recommended.