Film Reviews

Cherry Tree Lane

• Rating:
• Director: Paul Andrew Williams.
• Starring: Rachael Burke, Tom Butcher, Ashley Chin, Jumayn Hunter.
• Details: UK / 77mins (TBC).

The three films of Paul Andrew Williams may be of a "hit and miss" nature, but credit where credit is due, he's attempted three very different films every time. 2005's grim London To Brighton was a promising debut while his follow up, comedy-horror The Cottage, failed to garner enough laughs or scares. His latest, Cherry Tree Lane, dives into the home invasion sub genre that's becoming increasingly popular, and although it's tense throughout, it is bereft of originality. Middle class couple Christine (Burke) and Mike (Butcher) are settling in for a quiet night in their comfy suburban home. As they sit down to eat a simple dinner and wait for their teenage son Sebastian to return from football training, the tension in the room can't be ignored, as a past indiscretion on Christine's part is hinted at. Before it can be delved into, there is a knock on the door. As Williams' camera stays on Mike, we can hear Christine telling some teenagers that Sebastian isn't home yet. She returns but isn't at the table a moment before the door rings again: this time she's bundled into the room by three angry teenagers. Teddy (Sonny Muslim), Rian (Hunter) and Asad (Chin) knock Mike down, tie him up and set about waiting for Sebastian to come home. There have been a myriad of random violence/home invasion/revenge movies in the past few years - Straightheads, Outlaw, Eden Lake, The Strangers, Them and Michael Haneke's Funny Games (and his shot-for-shot US remake) for the most part tackle the social injustice prevalent in society as soulless, morally ambiguous youth destroy the lives of law-abiding citizens. The upcoming gritty Irish film Savage finds itself in similar territory. These films tap into people's anger at how the world is going to hell in a handcart and Cherry Tree Lane is no different. Williams does his best to keep tension high: playing out in more or less real time (Sebastian is expected home in under an hour) and taking place for the most part in one room, the writer-director creates a cocoon from which there is no escape - the audience is both the bound and gagged Mike and the near-hysterical Christine, who has to suffer the increasingly lustful glances from the unhinged leader Rian. The dialogue isn't all that interesting - Williams keeps everything as ordinary as possible and augments this by throwing the curveball of introducing teen girls Chaman (Corinne Douglas), Beth (Jenni Jacques) and younger brother Oscar (Kieran Dooner), who all take the violence on show with a shrug, like it's an everyday thing. Asad, the only one with a conscience, allows the horror to unfold while forever pointing out how horrific it is. He does nothing and, worse still, wants to do nothing to stop it. He just wishes it would stop. But it's all for nought in the end. Cherry Tree Lane's climax might satisfy the revenge-hungry audience but the film says nothing its predecessors have already said and ends rather abruptly and pointlessly. By the close you've watched a film you've already seen a few times already.

Review by Gavin Burke