Christ Church student James Rogan's debut feature, Dead Bolt Dead, gets a screening at the Phoenix this weekend, writes David Parkinson.
Rogan was just 18 when he made this claustrophobic crime flick, which chronicles the simultaneous hostage situations that arise in the aftermath of a bungled gangland hit. But his age is an irrelevance, as this is a film of which several more experienced directors would be justifiably proud.
You need to pay attention during the pre-credit sequence, as the action is perhaps a touch too elliptical for its own good. But once the encounters - between a hitman and a crimelord and a wounded thug and a getaway driver and his wife - settle into being highly personal battles of wit, the action develops a tone and a tension that sets it apart from the bulk of recent British crime movies.
Although Paul de Villiers's dialogue occasionally lapses into hackneyed argot, the screenplay is as tight as the direction, which largely reins in the debutant's obvious desire to impress. If the scene with the Mexican housekeeper and the split-screen finale don't quite come off, they're minor blips in an otherwise accomplished outing.
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