''Deadmeat'' is a 2007

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

urban

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

written, directed, produced by, and starring Q, aka Kwabena Manso. The film is about a man who has just been released from prison and sets out to exact violent revenge against the gang who murdered his brother.

Plot

Clarkie has just been released from prison and is staying in

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road M ...

with his elder brother Bones, an Internet painting artist and entrepreneur, and his brother's girlfriend, Melanie, the lawyer who defended Clarkie. Froggy, a friend of the two brothers and Bone's best friend, tells Clarkie that Melanie and Bones set him up to go to prison. Froggy regularly visited Clarkie in prison but Bones did not visit him once. Clarkie is having an affair with Melanie, which Bones finds about after he proposes to Melanie. Whilst news is reported about an American serial killer, Bones is found dead in his flat, having apparently hung himself, the death is subsequently attached to "The Cyber Vigilante", whose victims are suspected paedophiles. Clarkie is not convinced Bones killed himself nor does he believe that he was a paedophile consequently killed by a cyber-vigilante. Despite the animosity between the brothers before Bone died, Clarkie embarks on a mission to solve his brother's murder, clear his brother's name and exact revenge on the true culprit of the killing. Four Years Later... Melanie who is now heavily pregnant tracks down Clarkie, who is living in

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throu ...

with his new South African, hacker girlfriend Symone. Melanie gives him evidence that someone was trying to frame Bones. Clarkie believes Froggy was the paedophile who tried to frame Bones by stealing is identity and making the cyber-vigilante track Bones down. When Clarkie accuses Froggy of stealing his brother's identity, Froggy denies Clarkie's allegations of paedophilia. With Symone's help, Clarkie tracks down the father of a child Froggy had been grooming and gets the child's confession as well as his sister's testimony on camera. Clarkie travels to

Cricklewood Cricklewood is an area of London, England, which spans the boundaries of three London boroughs: Barnet to the east, Brent to the west and Camden to the south-east. The Crown pub, now the Clayton Crown Hotel, is a local landmark and lies north- ...

to search for Froggy. With the help of an old friend Yang, Clarkie is led to JJ, a photographer who is helping Froggy customise his car, and Clarkie tells him to let Froggy know that he is looking for him. An undercover policewoman, Sarah, posing as a model tells Clarkie to follow Jamal and he will find Froggy. Clarkie buys a sniper gun from Yang, bids farewell to Symone who is leaving for South Africa, drives to a parking lot rooftop, tracks Froggy and takes his revenge by fatally shooting Froggy, JJ and another gang member while they were in Froggy's car. Clarkie then fails an attempt at a drive-by shooting on another passenger, a 14-year-old boy Jamal, but he cannot bring himself to kill a teenager. Clarkie then obtains a fake passport from a friend and plans to board a plane for South Africa that evening. A detective, Clayderman, starts her investigation into the triple murder by questioning Jamal who witnessed the incident. Meanwhile, Barry and Stan wait for Castro's gang and Maloney's gang to enter a shop, along with Sarah, who is infiltrating Castro's gang. While they perform an armed robbery, Barry shoots Castro, Patrick Maloney and their other gang members, and Stan shoots Barry. Clayderman removes undercover officers, Stan and Sarah, from the investigation for being caught up in the shop robbery. Jamal reveals that he has been working as a courier for Castro and Maloney. Clayderman and Bernard Boston suspect Castro and Maloney have been using drugs as a cover to also transport arms and then to plant bombs. The boy is kidnapped by a hybrid terrorist cell, IR-Keyda, an African American member reveals that the bombs will be set off every hour. Clayderman contacts the Prime Minister to let him know that the

IRA Ira or IRA may refer to: *Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name *Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name *Iran, UNDP code IRA Law *Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status of ...

and

al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

have joined forces or formed splinter group and planted bombs, which are due to go off. The Prime Minister informs emergency services and heads of state, and arranges a meeting with cabinet ministers informing them that bombs have been located in London. After gang leader, De Costa, identifies her cousin Barry's body, she tells her henchman, Cory, that she asked Barry to put a hit on Castro but knew he did not go to do it alone as he loved company. De Costa questions the shopkeeper and finds out that a policeman has been let into their gang. She arranges a meeting with the gang and gang member, Danny, admits to letting Stan into their gang but claims he did not know that he was a policeman. De Costa orders Cory to shoot Danny and to frame Danny's girlfriend, Michelle, with his murder. Later that evening, Clayderman questions Clarkie about a black 4x4 seen leaving the scene of the shooting and Clarkie's car was seen driving down the road of Jamal, the main witness. After Clarkie replies that he is not the only person that drives a 4x4 and that he sold his car to someone local, Clayderman states that his car has been impounded for forensics to match the tyres with fragments found on the parking lot rooftop, but does not arrest Clarkie.

Cast

*Q as Clarkie *

Jo Martin Jo Martin (born 29 April) is a British actress. She played Natalie Crouch in the BBC One sitcom ''The Crouches'', which aired between 2003 and 2005. She joined the cast of ''Holby City'' in 2019 as neurosurgeon Max McGerry. Martin portrayed an ...

as Melanie *Martina Laird as Detective Clayderman *

Clare Perkins Clare Perkins (born 18 August 1965) is an English actress who is known for her roles as Denise Boulter in ''Family Affairs'' and Ava Hartman in '' EastEnders''. Career Perkins' first role was as Opal in the 1991 TV film 'Hallelujah Anyhow' in ...

as De Costa *

Robbie Gee Robbie Gee (born 24 March 1970) is a British actor, best known for his ''Desmond's'' character "Lee Stanley", for appearing in Guy Ritchie's crime caper '' Snatch'', and for his comedy roles in TV series like ''The Real McCoy'' and ''The Crouc ...

as Stan *Brian Bovell as Bones *

Roger Griffiths Roger Griffiths (born 6 February 1965) is an English actor who has had several roles in television. He first rose to prominence opposite Lenny Henry as Gareth Blackstock's foil Everton Stonehead in BBC One 1990s sitcom ''Chef!''. Before starri ...

as Froggy *Sabrina Chyld as Sarah *

Wil Johnson Wilbert Charles Johnson (born 18 April 1965) is an English actor, who has had notable television roles in '' Waking the Dead'' and '' Babyfather'', and on stage in '' Othello''. He played Dom Andrews in ''Emmerdale'' from 2012 to 2014. Early ...

as Barry *

Geff Francis Geffrey "Geff" Francis (born 1964), best known as Geff Francis, is a British actor who portrayed Lynford, a hoodlum, in the 1988 drama film '' For Queen and Country''. In 1986 he appeared as the title character in Channel Four's '' Zastrozzi, A ...

as Bernard Boston *

Cyril Nri Cyril Ikechukwu Nri (born 25 April 1961) is a Nigerian-born British actor who is best known for playing Superintendent Adam Okaro in the police TV series ''The Bill''. Early life Nri was born in on 25 April 1961 in Nigeria. Nri's family are ...

as Prime Minister

Production

The story is adapted from Q's best-selling novel ''Deadmeat''. Which he originally sold out of the boot of his car and at nightclubs before it was picked up by a major UK publisher. It has sold over 20,000 copies. The film was shot on

35mm film 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film, a type of motion picture film stock * 35MM 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format ...

with anamorphic lenses from Clarkie's perspective and relies on narration in the main. It was shot in 12 days on a low budget with a cast of Black British actors. A "Hollywood" ending to the film was shot, however, it was left out of the film by Q "because, there are always unanswered questions, especially in the area of unsolved crimes."

Release

On 13 September 2007, the film was released at UK cinemas. The film sold out in under three weeks at screenings at the Tricycle cinema in Kilburn,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. On 7 March 2011, the DVD of the film was released.

Reception

Danielle Lee of ''Reviewed Online'' said of the film "any physical cracks in the film is healed by the high standard of acting. Some of the outdoor scenes were drowned out by traffic or other background noise which would usually be phased out by the high rollers... The film is marred slightly by the lack of exposition and the abrupt ending typically leaves a lot of questions unanswered." ''Shadow And Act'' said that "''Deadmeat'' makes no bones about being pure fictional entertainment that might appeal to both a youth audience as well as those who've exited their 20s and beyond...''Deadmeat'' isn't a film about keepin' it real, so much as keeping it reel entertaining." Dave Roper of ''Hey U Guys'' called the film "a ghastly, incoherent, shambolic mess." ''

Total Film ''Total Film'' is a British film magazine published 13 times a year (published monthly and a summer issue is added every year since issue 91, 2004, which is published between July and August issue) by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched i ...

'' described the film as a "bewildering North london gangster flick involves writer/director/star/novelist 'Q' unhappily shoehorning his book into a strange 80 minutes of humdrum exposition and lost plotlines. Paedophiles, terrorists and motiveless murders add to the nonsense." Fiona McKinson of ''EURWeb'' said of the film "the initial scenes use pieces to camera and poetry, which creates an ethereal quality, though this is not sustained throughout the film." ''California News'' described the film as "Slam-Bang Cliffhanger action,"

Screen Nation The Screen Nation Film & TV Awards, formerly the bfm (black filmmaker) Film and TV Awards, was founded in September 2003 by independent film producer Charles Thompson MBE, as a platform to raise the profile of black British and international fil ...

added: "...that never lets up - Terrific." ''Hollywood Independent'' called it "awesome." In 2007,

Idris Elba Idrissa Akuna Elba (; born 6 September 1972) is an English actor.

handed Q the award for the Best British Feature at the Black Film Makers' International Film Festival.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Deadmeat 2007 films 2007 crime thriller films 2007 crime drama films 2000s psychological drama films British crime drama films British crime thriller films British independent films Black British mass media Black British cinema Black British films British films about revenge Films about pedophilia Films about drugs Hood films Films about terrorism in Europe Films shot in London Films set in London 2000s gang films 2007 thriller drama films 2007 directorial debut films 2007 independent films 2000s English-language films 2000s British films