Bypass

Saturday 11^th October, 6.30pm – Odeon West End and

Tuesday 14^th October, 6.15pm – Hackney Picturehouse

A winding plot in constant state of escalation, the consistent drip feed of complications leading to a high-speed climax, Bypass is an adrenaline-loaded drama.

With a terminally ill mother, absent father and an older brother serving time for theft, Tim is forced to pull up the slack and care for his indolent younger sister. Selling stolen goods for cash on behalf of a string of iniquitous men, he struggles to live a hand-to-mouth existence. The bailiffs are at the door, his sister’s school threatening intervention if she continues to play truant and news from his girlfriend that he will soon be a father, the pressures web thick and fast. As if that were not enough, Tim silently battles with an ever-worsening illness that he is urged by his doctor to be treated for.

It’s good to see this kind of story getting the attention of an evidently talented director. Duane Hopkins’ lyrical eye tackles a number of problems within British communities and how the net of crime all too easily subjugates victims of circumstance. While it is an intense succession of events, the story is not sensationalist or overworked, it merely shines a light on how easily things complicate readily. It’s a film that is listening to modern realities of uncharted British estates and giving them a stage on which to be acknowledged with all their harrowing details.

George Mackay’s performance is powerful and runs deep into the contradicting issues. Through Tim’s many roles – subtle and brave – he portrays a young man trying desperately to hold it all together. Charlotte Spencer is the fresh-faced and faithful support that intelligently works through her own character’s simultaneous feelings of love and distance from Tim as she prepares to become a mother.

Its hard-hitting facts and compassionate delivery makes Bypass a poignant example of how the power of human love can sooth hopeless situations, but not always resolve them.

Lauren Pennycott

Bypass is released in the UK on 11^th October 2014.

For further information about the BFI London Film Festival visit here.

Read more reviews from the festival here.