London To Brighton marks the "brutal and brilliantly assured" feature debut of director Paul Andrew Williams. He also wrote this thriller, which follows a prostitute and a young runaway (Lorraine Stanley and Georgia Groome) as they try to escape the fallout of a shocking act of violence. It's a pity but perhaps not a surprise that few people ventured to see it in the run-up to Christmas...

The Scenic Route

"I'd never been to Brighton till I made this film," confesses Williams in a half-hour Q&A session at The Curzon cinema. He explains his pragmatic approach to filmmaking ("It was near.") and how he managed to inject pace and tension just by reorganising scenes into a flashback structure. The cast are also on hand to talk about their experiences, including pint-sized thespian Georgia Groome who says that playing a street kid "made me grow up quite a lot".

Going by the eight deleted scenes, Williams stuck close to the script. The footage is mostly made up of brief cutaways, lingering glances and walking shots. There is, however, a version of the bedroom scene (where the pivotal act of violence takes place) that is uninterrupted and as a result much more gruelling than the fractured images in the final print. An alternative ending is presented separately and cutting it proves that Williams knows when to pull back on fashionable cynicism.

Window Seat

Williams talks more about the techniques he used to amp up the drama in a commentary for the film. He's joined by his director of photography Christopher Ross, who expands on matters like the heavy use of close-ups and handheld camerawork. Lorraine Stanley and Johnny Harris sit in as well and explain how they were able to play such morally ambiguous characters by creating back-stories for them. For instance, Stanley decided that Kelly grew up with Derek at a children's care home and feels a burden of loyalty because of that.

Stanley and Harris had plenty of time to work out their motivation, as they first played these roles in Williams' 2001 short film Royalty. It forms part of the generous extras package, showcasing Williams' natural feel for pace and sense of documentary-style authenticity. If you thought the British thriller was dead, this DVD will set you straight.

EXTRA FEATURES

London To Brighton DVD is released on Monday 30th April 2007.