A Prayer before Dawn (2017)

A raw, physical film that regularly made me gasp. Beautiful, intense and convincing role by Joe Cole, which I find completely believable as a troubled young man who ends up in a Thai prison, even if it looks lifelike. You have to be able to handle it (the harshness, the filth, the indifference), and maybe just 'bite through', but then the film also offers a lot of beautiful things. This movie experience will stay with me for a while.

Translated from Dutch · View original

Strong Film.

The movie does a lot of good. Visually it is intense and in terms of editing it is effective. By letting real ex-prisoners play along, you also have an authentic feeling. Screenplay is nice too. They choose to only follow Moore's side/feelings. Which keeps Hollywood far away. The film also doesn't get bogged down in a lot of dialogue where the emotion has to come out. It is mainly showing.

The only personal downside was that the film didn't really catch up towards the end. As a result, the film has the same tempo. I would have liked it to be a bit more chaotic towards the end. That would have a greater impact on me.

That doesn't take away from the fact that I'm very curious about more from this maker. More than enough potential.

3.5 spacious stars

Translated from Dutch · View original

I already thought where do I know this guy from, but he also plays in Peaky Blinders. But I saw this movie yesterday and I have to say it never bored me. If you like prison movies then this is definitely a must see.

Translated from Dutch · View original