London to Brighton
24 hours in the life of a prostitute and a young runaway, fleeing to Brighton in a desperate attempt to save their own lives. This bare-bones synopsis, however, does little to communicate the scale of Paul Andrew Williams' feature debut: its assurance, its cinematic élan, the steely conviction of its performances. And above all, its gritty verisimilitude. Avoiding most of the clichés of the dirty-realist Brit flick, refining instead an ensemble of credible, often contradictory characters, it's reminiscent of Mike Leigh's Naked in its vision of a debased demi-monde, its two heroines clinging to each other as they move through a world of violence, petty crime and revenge.
IFF London 2006
Director Paul Andrew Williams has a feel for the gritty demimonde inhabited by his characters, each out for themselves, each somehow dependent on the others, all of them caught in a distasteful web of sleaze and corruption. It is when Kelly tries to break free of this sordid existence that the film raises itself above its conventions.
Piers Handling, IFF Toronto 2006
Paul Andrew Williams began his career as an actor but in the last five years he has written and directed a number of successful pop-promos, viral ads and short films.
In 2001 Paul wrote and directed the short film Royalty screened at BAFTA which would later inspire London to Brighton. His short film, It's Okay to Drink Whiskey premiered at 2004's Sundance Film Festival. London to Brighton is his feature debut. Williams is a prolific writer and will next be directing The Cottage, a relentless dark comedy / inept gangster / full-on horror film. Following that he will film Wisdom's Last Legs, a bittersweet road movie with a dark twist.
Filmography:
2000 Sugar (kr.m.)
2000 The Thief (kr.m.)
2001 Royalty (kr.m.)
2002 The Weight of Coins (kr.m.)
2003 It's Okay to Drink Whiskey (kr.m.)
2006 Z Londynu do Brighton / London to Brighton