Set amidst the foreboding tower blocks, seedy backstreets and glowering streetlights of East London, Sean Spencer’s striking debut feature Panic tells a gripping, violent and occasionally squalid story which manages to work as a thriller in its own right as it simultaneously and subtly deals non-judgmentally with issues of loneliness, isolation, fear and despair. David Gyasi shines as music journalist Andrew Deeley, traumatised by a brutal attack months earlier and now terrified to leave his flat. He’s on medication for agoraphobia and hides from the world amongst his impressive record collection; his own real connection to the world outside his front door comes via his slightly worrying tendency to watch the comings of going of a young Asian girl in the flat opposite through his binoculars. But when the girl, Kem, is kidnapped Andrew forces himself to break out of his comfort zone to find out what’s become of her and, if he can, save her…
Panic is an assured, confident movie that casts Andrew as the unlikely hero/saviour and yet never really turns him into a hero. Despite some moments of tough, raw, street-level violence, this is no action movie. The pace is slow and measured and we’re with Andrew every step of the way as he realises he can’t just forget about Kem’s disappearance and that he owes it both to her (even though she has no idea who he is) and more especially to himself, to do the right thing. Venturing out of the flat is challenge enough for Andrew and before long he’s beaten up and threatened and quite clearly out of his depth and yet he won’t give up; he won’t let go. With the help of one-night stand partner Amy (Nixon), Andrew prowls the mean streets of the capital and finds himself slipping deeper and deeper into a world he’s wholly unprepared for and dealing with people he’s absolutely unequipped to reason with. This is London’s grimy, sleazy underbelly, a largely lawless world of human trafficking and sexual slavery. But Andrew rises to each new challenge his investigations throw at him, controlling and, it seems, forgetting his own ‘panic’ as he’s forced to set aside his own insular, four-walled world and rediscover the often distasteful reality of living in the big city in the modern world.
Panic is an impressive if somewhat downbeat experience and Andrew is an extraordinarily unconventional if likeable lead. His journey back out from his own personal darkness is the engine which drives him (and us) forward even as he voyages into worlds we might not be too familiar with and crosses swords with the hard-faced, ruthless exploiters whose activities are festering sores on the face of urban life in the UK in the 21st century. Sean Spencer’s brooding camerawork captures the atmosphere of danger and unease inherent in his stark, ugly London locations and his script is sharp, to the point and populated by all-too-believable people, most of whom are struggling to find their way and their place in a cold and unforgiving world. Inevitably – and mercifully – there’s no happy ending here and the story is resolved with the bleakness and ambiguity we might have come to expect. Panic won’t appeal to all tastes – it sure isn’t a ‘date night’ movie – but it’s a brittle, angular, edgy movie from a rousing new talent who clearly has his finger on the pulse of life in modern Britain. A persuasive and impressive calling card.
PANIC / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: SEAN SPENCER / STARRING: DAVID GYASI, PIPPA NIXON, YENNIS CHEUNG, JASON WONG / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
