The Marker is a 2017

Crime thriller Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

film written, directed and produced by

Justin Edgar Justin Edgar (born 18 August 1971) is a British film director, screenwriter and Film producer, producer. Early life Born in Handsworth, West Midlands, Handsworth, Birmingham, Edgar left school with no qualifications because he regularly played ...

starring Frederick Schmidt,

Ana Ularu Ana Ularu (born 26 June 1985) is a Romanian actress. Biography She is known for playing the role of Matilda in '' Outbound'' and West in ''Emerald City The Emerald City (sometimes called the City of Emeralds) is the capital city of the ficti ...

and John Hannah with

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

nominated actress

Cathy Tyson Catherine Tyson (born 12 June 1965) is an English actress. She won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film ''Mona Lisa'' (1986), which also earned her Best Supporting Actress nom ...

and

Chariots of Fire ''Chariots of Fire'' is a 1981 British historical sports drama film directed by Hugh Hudson, written by Colin Welland and produced by David Puttnam. It is based on the true story of two British athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a de ...

star

Struan Rodger Struan Rodger (born 18 September 1946) is a British actor who has appeared widely in a range of supporting roles. He appeared briefly in ''Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?'' in 1978 but his first major film role was as Eric Liddell's ...

Screen Daily ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global film business. ...

described the film as "A noir thriller about a criminal seeking redemption by tracking down the daughter of the woman he killed. Along the way he is haunted by his guilt in the guise of the woman’s ghost"

Synopsis

"This dark urban thriller, by writer-director Justin Edgar, follows a tormented criminal (Frederick Schmidt) who, after a stint in prison, sets out to try and find the daughter of the woman he killed. He is haunted by his guilt in the guise of the ghost of his victim. His bloody mission brings him up against his former gang boss (played by John Hannah) as he faces former demons as well as a brutal criminal conspiracy"

Cast

Frederick Schmidt Frederick Schmidt is a British actor who has appeared in such films '' Mission: Impossible – Fallout'' (2018) and '' Angel Has Fallen'' (2019). Career In his early career, he starred in many British films. In '' Mission: Impossible – Fallou ...

as Marley *

as Ana * John Hannah as Brendan *

as Jimmy *

as Maura * Lara Peake as Cristina *

Cosmo Jarvis Harrison Cosmo Krikoryan Jarvis (born 1 September 1989) is a British actor, musician, and filmmaker. In 2015, he auditioned and was cast to portray the character of Sebastian in William Oldroyd's debut feature film ''Lady Macbeth'' (2016). Ea ...

as Steve *

Andrew Shim Andrew Shim (born 18 August 1983) is an American-born English actor best known for his appearances in the films and TV shows of Shane Meadows, especially ''This Is England'' (2006–2015). Although a United States citizen, he has lived most of ...

as Pogus *

Jack McMullen Jack Michael McMullen (born 22 February 1991) is an English actor and writer, best known for his roles in '' Waterloo Road'', ''Little Boy Blue'', '' Brookside'' and ''Grange Hill''. Early life Jack Michael McMullen was born in Liverpool on 22 ...

as Alex * Courtney Wallis Richardson as Attractive woman * David Whitehouse as Guy at bar * James Cooper as Guy drinking at table

Production

Production began in Birmingham in January 2016 with backing from UK public funder

Creative England Creative UK (known as Creative England from 2010 to 2021) is a not-for-profit organisation that supports the creative industries in the United Kingdom. The business promotes the development of creative companies, which in turn support business acr ...

and executive producer Richard Holmes. Writer and Director Edgar is from the Handsworth area of the city and said his influences included the 1970s BBC crime series Gangsters and the soho-set novels of

Derek Raymond Robert William Arthur Cook (12 June 1931 – 30 July 1994), better known since the 1980s by his pen name Derek Raymond, was an English crime writer, credited with being a founder of British '' noir''. Biography Early life The eldest son of a t ...

. He pointed out that although his first three films were comedies he has always loved the crime genre and made the short film The Ends which won best short at the

Raindance film festival Raindance is an independent film festival and film school that operates in major cities including London, Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Budapest, Berlin, and Brussels. The festival was established in 1992 by Elliot Grove to ...

in 2005. He spoke about how most of the film was shot in the Digbeth area of Birmingham "

Digbeth Digbeth is an area of Central Birmingham, England. Following the destruction of the Inner Ring Road, Digbeth is now considered a district within Birmingham City Centre. As part of the Big City Plan, Digbeth is undergoing a large redevelopment ...

is such a unique place. Unlike Manchester’s Northern Quarter or Shoreditch in London, it hasn’t been gentrified. It’s retained its edge. I mean, a week after we finished shooting a guy was shot dead there. It still has this dark edge to it." Edgar also says that he wanted the entire crew to get the sensation of Marley's incarceration so he insisted they stay in the prison whilst the prison sequence was filmed at

Shrewsbury Prison HM Prison Shrewsbury was a Category B/C men's prison in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. It was decommissioned in March 2013, and is now open to the public. The Victorian prison as seen today sits on top of the original Georgian prison, the ...

. "I shared a cell with the director of photography. It was a prison where they used to hang people, so there were some very creepy corners in the place". As with all of Edgar's work so far the film was shot entirely in Birmingham and the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

of England

Release

In May 2017 it was announced that the film would have its world premiere at the

Edinburgh International Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is a film festival that runs for two weeks in June each year. Established in 1947, it is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all ti ...

2017 where it was nominated for the Michael Powell Award for Best Film and Best Performance in a

British film The United Kingdom has had a significant film industry for over a century. While film production reached an all-time high in 1936, the "golden age" of British cinema is usually thought to have occurred in the 1940s, during which the directors D ...

but lost out to

God's Own Country "God's Own Country" is a phrase meaning an area, region or place supposedly favoured by God. Examples Australia In Australia, the phrase "God's own country" was often used to describe the country in the early 1900s, but it appears to have gr ...

. It was taken on for international sales representation by Truffle Pictures and was picked up for UK distribution by Kaleidoscope ahead of its World Premiere at Edinburgh. The release dates by region are as follows:

Reception

The film has been received positively with many critics praising Edgar's direction. The Wee Review said: "Darker than the dark web and grittier than a mouthful of sand, it’s a well-crafted noir thriller that satisfies the sadistic cinema goer with its darkly uncompromising take on the genre." Susan Omand writing in The Dream Cage stated "What a shocking, dark, vicious, violent, forceful, engrossing, touching, beautiful film! I’m going to run out of superlatives soon so I’d better start explaining why Justin Edgar's film has, for me, become ''the'' film of the Edinburgh Film Festival" "If you get the chance, you have to watch this film and prepare to come out of it stunned, exhausted, fearful and yet captivated" Quiet Earth said "A gangster film with a heart and a brain, it makes a nice change from the usual guns 'n geezers fare we've come to expect from the British film industry, and Edgar ought be congratulated for making something which dares to be different, which dares to have soul."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marker 2017 2017 films 2017 crime thriller films Films shot in England British crime thriller films 2010s British films