Pirates

Stars: Elliot Edusah, Reda Elazouar, Jordan Peters, Kassius Nelson

Director: Reggie Yates

Short and sweet (with a review to match!), this breezy comedy centres on three London youths (Edusah, Elazouar, Peters) hoping to celebrate Year 2K by getting a rapping DJ break at the Colosseum Club.

All that they need are tickets to get into the club. That's it, really, but the three lead performances are all good in a relaxed, naturalistic style.

They get the tickets, steal flashy outfits from a boutique - one wears them all under his tracksuit - lose the tickets, and are confronted by a machete-wielding woman at the burger bar where they'd left them (this bit takes some believing), who demands 100 quid on the spot.

A little of all this does go rather a long way, but fortunately the film knows that brevity is the soul of audience attraction. Those who need to know about this sort of thing should be warned that there's an extended sequence of brightly flashing images.

David Quinlan

UK 2021. UK Distributor: Picturehouse. Colour (unspecified).
80 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 1, Swearing 2.

Review date: 22 Nov 2021