80
CineVue by Matthew Anderson
The Violators bravely paints a vicious circle without pulling any punches and shows real promise in a new female British filmmaker.
The Violators
Critic Rating
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- United Kingdom
- 2016
- · 101m
Director
Helen Walsh
Cast
Lauren McQueen,
Brogan Ellis,
Roxanne Pallett,
Stephen Lord,
Liam Ainsworth
Genre
Drama
When Shelly meets Rachel, two dysfunctional girls from radically opposed backgrounds set off on a collision course that will leave one of them shattered and the other re-born. Set in the abandoned wastelands of Cheshire's little-seen urban overspill, The Violators charts a teenage girl's path from battle-hardened cynicism to the hope of a better life.
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What are critics saying?
60
Variety by Guy Lodge
This study of adolescent desire and alienation across class lines takes its time nurturing a tensely ambiguous relationship between its two young female leads — alertly played by newcomers Lauren McQueen and Brogan Ellis — only to squander a measure of that intrigue on a blunt third-act twist.
60
Total Film by Jamie Graham
The Violators suffers from inevitable comparisons to Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank, but is anchored by McQueen’s terrific performance in her feature debut.
60
Time Out London by Kate Lloyd
It’s the directorial debut of novelist Helen Walsh and details as small as the actresses’ eyebrows reveal huge amounts about their characters. It’s also cleverly shot.
60
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
It’s flawed by a slightly unconvincing and anticlimactic gun-related ending, but well acted, forthright and confident in the universe it creates.
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