County Lines

Henry Blake (2019)

Conrad Khan, Ashley Madekwe, Harris Dickinson Rated 15 Run time 90 mins

Conrad plays Tyler, a discontented 14 year old whose mum Toni is caught in a cycle of poverty. An older boy Simon gets Tyler to run errands for him involving moving drugs around the countryside.

Writer director Blake spent more than a decade as a youth worker, and his film presents an alarming yet compassionate portrait of a headline-grabbing scandal that combines the warm artistry of a coming-of-age picture with the cold, hard realty of child exploitation.

95% – Rotten Tomatoes
8.3 /10 – IMDB
“Conrad Khan is magnificent, delivering a watchful performance that brims with internalised emotion. “
Henry Blake’s handsomely shot debut feature is propelled by unrelenting dread that sometimes erupts into scenes of traumatic squalor and degradation.

Film Review: County Lines – Empire