The Marker

If you're sort of person who watches a movie and rates it as one star because it's depressing, then you're clearly watching the wrong films for your timid mind -you might want to get a Disney movie next time. This is a well acted and well plotted movie, and yes it has many depressing elements, but this certainly doesn't detract from the fact that it's a fine movie. The acting is fist class, and the depths of the underworld it describes and delves into appear realistic and grim. Good camera work and seedy locations are all spot on. Roll on redemption to those that need it however it comes.

You know, many of us think we had bad childhoods until a picture like this comes along and we see clearly that we did not. This is a story of redemption, ghosts, prison life, human trafficking, and the rationalization of truly evil acts and the underworld criminals in transgression. If you're a fan of You Were Never Really Here, then you'll like this UK offering along similar lines. No Ridge Runners here; this is the real thing with excellent acting and photography. Not for the squeamish; a few F-bombs and curses; lots of gore.

Phrases like 'slow-burning' and 'low key' cannot begin to give a true idea of this film. It is far from perfect, feeling longer than its actual running time, but rewards those with the patience. It is a story of redemption, consciously set in a gritty world of prostitution and sexual abuse, crime and corruption, that will be alien to most but defines the lives of too many. Sadly, many of the characters are not fully realised. We have little sense of how anybody came to be where they are at the opening of the tale. The protagonist, Marley, is the only person with a backstory, but is played so flatly that it is difficult to like him despite his efforts to do 'the right thing'. Frederick Schmidt is capable of better. I was also a little disappointed at the cop-outs. The ghost of Ana is given responsibility for some of Marley's actions. Although she is clearly a driver, it is he who has agency and should be portrayed as such. This shying away from the uncomfortable is reinforced by a theme of the film: the idea that men are waiting around for children in care to reach their sixteenth birthday is a myth, one that I cannot square with the rest of the story. Are we to believe that people who force women into sex, murder them, conspire with social services to access vulnerable children, and deal in drugs and financial corruption would somehow draw the line because of an arbitrary date? The organised abuse of teenagers in many parts of UK was no secret when this film was made. If I sound harsh, please forgive me. I have watched this film twice now, and gained something each time. Perhaps the faults make the good parts stand out more. Whatever, an insightful and hard hitting film worthy of attention.