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Review: Blonde. Purple

Lower budget British movies are not getting the recognition that they deserve it seems.  What with James Crow’s Nemesis, Chris Green’s The Pebble And The Boy earlier this year among many others and now Marcus Flemings American crime drama Blonde. Purple, we are seeing a wave of great actors, some excellent directors and brilliant writers/producers just slip on by where they need to be heralded for the continual high standard of work they are producing on a limited budget and Blonde. Purple is the latest in this line.

An out-of-his-depth criminal is stuck in a bank after a heist goes wrong. With only a gun and a 16 year old girl as a hostage, how will he get out?

Blonde. Purple and Director Marcus Flemings owe a lot to Quentin Tarantino.  The influences throughout the movie are there to be seen, whether it be some clever dialogue and movie discourse or the films main scenes taking part in a bank, featuring the super talented Julian Moore-Cook and Ellie Bindman in scenes with more than a passing nod to Resevoir Dogs or the cafe scenes that could have been lifted straight from Pulp Fiction, but it all works without ever being pretentious. Blonde. Purple simply envelopes you in it’s seedy underbelly and has you rooting for the disparate band of criminals and outcasts. While you can’t overlook the motives, the characters are all so relatable in their desperation, that Flemmings has given us a story you can easily enter its world and deeply involve yourself with.

Blonde. Purple is a dialogue heavy crime caper, with a simply brilliant script at times.  You’d be forgiven for thinking that this was an American production, what with the very clever work the set designers have done, with their locations and the aforementioned actors brilliant performances right down to their accents.  It’s a brilliantly crafted piece of work.

Marcus Moore-Cook as the criminal woefully out of his depth who ends up taking a 16 year hostage who then realises what a situation he has landed himself in is brilliantly realised by Moore-Cook.  He delivers some superbly emoted monologues throughout the film and as he realises his world is collapsing around him, the better Moore-Cook gets.  Then there is the stunning Ellie Bindman as a precocious, head-strong 16 year old caught up in the middle of the whole situation.  She delivers an intense performance that is multi-layered and supremely confident in someone who is definitely going to be a big star in the future, despite her young years (She’s not 16 btw.), her acting carries the gravitas of someone who has been in the industry for a long while.

There’s not too much more you can reveal about Blonde. Purple without giving too much of the game away.  Marcus Flemings Blonde. Purple is a film you will enjoy and yes it does have some shortcomings, but they really don’t matter and aren’t worth pointing out either as both the film maker and his actors will use this as a platform to take things to the next level and that’s something that’s both to be celebrated and ones to mark down in your notebooks as one’s to watch over the coming years.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Blonde. Purple is now available on Digital Formats Everywhere