Narcopolis

Stars: Elliot Cowan, Elodie Yung, Jonathan Pryce, Robert Bathurst, James Callis, Cosima Shaw, Molly Gaisford, Louis Trefgarne, Adam Sims, Harry Lloyd, Josef Altin, Simeon Willis, Lenora Crichlow, Jon Campling, Ross O'Hennessy

Director: Justin Trefgarne

Justin Trefgarnes thought-provoking screenplay for his feature film directorial debut (he also scores a triple with a credit as producer) is set in 2024 London where the manufacture and use of recreational drugs is now legal and manufacturers control the hugely profitable drug trade, leaving venal police to deal with illegal dealers

The discovery by policeman and recovering addict Elliot Cowan of a woman who appears to have been killed as the result of using by a new experimental narcotic created by a major licensed drug-dealing corporation catalyses a well-integrated thriller storyline which finds Cowan putting his and his familys lives in danger when he starts to investigate the womans mysterious death

Trefgarne deserves praise for keeping you watching, as he blends not always perfectly (some scenes appear suddenly with little narrative motive for them) but rarely tediously science fiction, time travel, a depressingly credible dystopian future and plenty of action into a thought-provoking whole.

The acting is apt enough, and effective special effects create a convincing futuristic metropolis and, having once worked for a major pharmaceutical manufacturer, I found Trefgarnes central plotline all too scarily credible.

Alan Frank

UK 2014. UK Distributor: Altitude. Colour.
96 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 2, Drugs 3, Swearing 2.

Review date: 25 Sep 2015