CinemaCloud
Drama

County Lines

User Score31 votes
67%6.7/10
Release2020
Runtime1H 30M
LanguageEnglish
StatusReleased

Synopsis

A powerful drama about a mother and her fourteen year old boy who is groomed into a lethal nationwide drug selling enterprise, a 'County Line', which exploits vulnerable children and traffics them across Britain.

Principal Cast8

Full Cast & Crew (84)

Media11

Backdrops

County Lines backdrop 1
County Lines backdrop 2
County Lines backdrop 3
County Lines backdrop 4
County Lines backdrop 5
County Lines backdrop 6
County Lines backdrop 7

Posters

County Lines poster 1
County Lines poster 2
County Lines poster 3
County Lines poster 4

Director

Henry Blake

Director →

Trailer

Keywords

human traffickingbased on true storydrug tradeteenage protagonist

Where to Watch

Stream

BFI Player Amazon ChannelBFI Player Amazon Channel

External Links

Reviews1

CinemaSerf7/10

If you're not in the know about drug trafficking parlance, then the title won't mean much - but that's not so important as we get to know "Tyler" (Conrad Khan). He lives with his drop-out mum "Toni" (Ashley Madekwe) and young sister. His school life is pretty torrid and despite efforts from the teachers and his mother to help, he remains introspective and prone to violence. Then he meets "Simon" (Harris Dickinson). He's a chavvy sort of guy, black Mercedes and plenty of cash to splash - and he doesn't overtly try to recruit the young "Tyler". He waits patiently for him to come to him - and that's when the spiral begins. He can make easy money by shipping narcotics from the city to the more rural punters where supply is more limited and more lucrative. What "Tyler" doesn't realise is, though, he's just a pawn in a game - and "Simon" is using loads of other lads like him to keep him in clover. It's the increasingly stark realisation that his choices are going to leave him battered, high and dry that gets us to a denouement that is predicable, but quite potent. Dickinson does quite well as the charmingly malevolent pusher with a big smile and a ruthless streak a mile wide, Madekwe also performs strongly as the mother who must get her act together to protect what is her's - but essentially this is a story about a young man with little hope and a hell of a lot of frustrations and Khan plays that role assuredly. At times the audio mix isn't the best and coupled with their dark and dingy flat can make the film a little difficult to follow at the start, but those same filming techniques also contribute to the general bleakness of the plot.

Jul 20, 2024

Similar Movies

Recommended

Countries:United Kingdom
Production:Two Birds EntertainmentLoupe Films