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Dead London (1996)
 

BFI

Main image of Dead London (1996)
 
16mm, 19 min, black & white
 
DirectorThomas Q. Napper
Production CompanyOil Factory
 BFI Production Board
 Channel Four
ProducerSally Llewellyn
ScreenplaySimone White
PhotographyAlex Melman

Cast: Ewen Bremner (Paul); Dexter Fletcher (Nick); Simone White (Jen)

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Two men develop a theory which allows them to predict violent deaths in London - until they share their theory with a newcomer.

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Dead London is a dark and moody short thriller, compressing a surprising number of plot twists into its 20 minutes of overlapping, mumbled dialogue and harsh black and white photography. It bears at least a second viewing to understand exactly what's going on. Its locations (Smithfield, Bank, King's Cross, slaughterhouses and subterranean tunnels), photography and costumes evoke a timeless London of neglect, where only oddballs and obsessives pay attention to the city's everyday death and tragedy. The film was made the year before Labour's 1997 election victory which brought civic planning and pride back to the city.

Neither Nick - played by Press Gang's (ITV, 1989-93) Dexter Fletcher - whose meticulous precision becomes fatal, nor Paul, with his lurching, babbling romanticism (which Ewen Bremner reproduced to iconic effect the same year in Trainspotting) possess the essential empathy with London that newcomer Jen, played by writer Simone White, somehow acquires. Indeed, some of the film's most affecting and archetypal London aspects are incidental and surreal moments surrounding the main action: a packet of Chinese cigarettes left in a cab and offered to an asthmatic businessman; a drunken woman's prophecies about sausages; and a little girl, all alone at night in the goods yard at King's Cross, playing stick 'em up with a stranger.

Danny Birchall

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Video Clips
Complete film (19:30)
Extract: The encounter (3:08)
GALLERY / SCRIPTS / AUDIO
SEE ALSO
Bremner, Ewen (1970-)
Fletcher, Dexter (1966-)