Charles Mnene Movies
With a premise that suggests an early 21st century variation on David Fincher's paranoia classic The Game (1997), New Town Killers stars Dougray Scott as Alistair, a slimy, ice water-veined financier who gets his kicks and thrills by targeting human prey. His modus operandi involves bringing in an innocent young candidate for a new job, Jamie Stewart (Alastair Mackenzie), and demanding as a prerequisite that the two play a mysterious game together. They must find a down-and-outer and challenge him to escape from their clutches over the course of one long and fateful night. The "prey" on this occasion is Sean McDonald (James Anthony Pearson), an inner-city teen with a serious problem on his hands: his pregnant sister risks being killed by the thugs to whom she owes gambling money. Alistair informs the young man that if he manages to evade them in their chase, he will receive enough money to clear off the towering gambling debts of his pregnant sister; if he loses, he will be killed. Out of concern for his sister, Sean agrees to the contest, though victory seems impossible for two major reasons: first, the crafty Alistair has closed all major exit routes from the city without informing Sean of this, and second, Alistair secretly plants a tracking device on Sean that the young man isn't aware of. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- James Pearson, Dougray Scott, (more)
- 2006
One man's attempt to help the less fortunate drives him to the edge of madness in this satiric comedy drama from director Ngozi Onwurah. Joe Pascale (David Oyelowo) is an intelligent and idealistic black man living in London who has a high-paying job with a bright future ahead of him. Joe, however, believes he has a responsibility to people less fortunate than himself, and he quits his job to take a position as a teacher in a rough-and-tumble neighborhood dominated by poor blacks. Naïvely assuming his new students will welcome him with open arms, Joe quickly discovers most of his charges have little interest in learning and don't much care for him, thinking of him as a slumming yuppie whose demeanor is more "white" than "black." Joe gets tough with his students through techniques he calls "enforced education," with detention and harsh punishments doled out to kids who refuse to obey. But one of Joe's students, Germal (Charles Mnene), decides to turn the tables by accusing Joe of beating him up. Joe is outraged when most in the community supports Germal rather than himself, and he's fired by the school once the story becomes a cause célèbre in the media. Joe starts losing touch with reality and blames all of his problems on blacks, who he feels have turned their back on him and his talents. After ending up homeless, Joe begins facing his problems by seeing a counselor named Heather (Nikki Amuka Bird), but falling in love with her leads to a new set of emotional dilemmas for him. Shoot the Messenger was screened in competition at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- David Oyelowo, Nikki Amuka-Bird, (more)
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