322. Lynn + Lucy; movie review

LYNN + LUCY
Cert 15
87 mins
BBFC advice: Contains very strong language, upsetting scenes

We grew up in working-class communities in which people were certainly not rich but had jobs and understood parental responsibilities.
Of course, that wasn't true of everyone. Indeed, my mum and dad fostered a girl whose parents' had too many children to cope.
But even though we lived in more austere circumstances than the modern world, people appeared to live to a moral compass.
During the past 40 years, there was a marked change in society with the development of an underclass who seem adrift from the rest of society.
This is exemplified by Fyzal Boulifa's Lynn + Lucy a sobering examination of love and loss on what is now known as a sink estate.

The pair (Roxanne Scrimshaw and Nichola Burley) were best school friends and now live on opposite sides of the street.

Dowdy Lynn is devoted to raising her daughter (Tia Nelson), looking over in awe at Lucy who continues to be a party animal.

She is delighted when her pal becomes pregnant believing that parenthood will strengthen their bonds.

In fact, she finds out who Lucy really is - a self-centred young woman who consistently neglects her baby in favour of a good time.

To describe any more of Lynn + Lucy would spoil another in the crop of British indie which have punched well above their weight over the past couple of years

Both Scrimshaw and Burley are convincing in their respective roles - Scrimshaw's Lynn showing loyalty and understanding the clear difference between right and wrong while Burley's Lucy can't see further than the end of her own nose.

And Boulifa's detail is important - from the state of the housing to its nearby shopping centre and down-at-heel pub.

It is a mirror of real and sad inner-city Britain.

Reasons to watch: High-quality performances
Reasons to avoid: Upsetting scenes

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 7.5/10

Did you know? More than 220 infants in the UK were killed or injured as a result of being shaken in the past decade, analysis of NSPCC figures has found. Serious case reviews were carried out on 1,253 children, with nearly one in six of those reports concluding the youngster had suffered a brain injury.

The final word. Fyzal Boulifa: "What attracted me was that I could take working-class characters but speak about bigger things. I felt like it would be subtly different from social realism, where everything is so embedded in a specific moment and focused on particular social issues that it can feel quite narrow." ICS Film

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