Directed by Jamie Thomson Cinematography Robert Horwell | Written by Jamie Thomson | |
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Produced by Jamie Thomson, Khalid Al-Mutawwa Starring Lou Murrall, James Kenward, Callum Pease, Levi Hart, Anna Brook Music by John Brice, Gavin Clark, Jeff Wootton, Jamie Thomson | ||
The Lost Choices is a 2015 British drama film written, directed and produced by Jamie Thomson. The film is set on the Kent coast, in which two boys are subjected to different forms of abuse, the consequences of which are finally played out some twenty years later. The film was shot in Ramsgate, Kent during Summer 2011 over a 3-week period on a microbudget and picked up by Metrodome Distribution and released on September 14, 2015. Due to budget constraints, the film contained a large portion of untrained actors from the local area, involved a small crew of 6 and used locations of families and friends. The main cast included Lou Murrall, James Kenward, Anna Brook, Callum Pease, Levi Hart, Mark Wingett and Gabriel Thomson.
Contents
Plot
The film cuts between three separate stories.
The first is of young George. An overweight boy who is bullied by his peers and neglected at home. He projects the abuse he receives at school back onto his younger brother Charlie. George is an avid collector of mod and rocker records. He tries to befriend the bully, Alex, at school by enticing him to look at his record collection in which Alex seems interested. Alex is also a tormented child from an abusive background. George decides to take his father's record collection in to school to show Alex for which he is ridiculed. Alex proceeds to smash all of the records. George's father has left home and the records are the only memory George has so he vows to get revenge.
The second story is of who we are led tobelieve is the adult version of young George. The adult version of George, "G", is muscular and violent. After threatening a customer at work, he is fired from his job and decides to move back to his hometown, where he was schooled, with his cousin and uncle. However, he ends up in an altercation in a pub with the result that he is imprisoned for violent assault.
The third story is of adult Charlie, George's younger brother. Charlie is the confident, drug-taking husband of Tasha, who is pregnant with their first child. They decide to move back to the town they were born in and settle down. However Charlie continues to live a hedonistic life which concerns Tasha and his best friend Mike.
After we have been introduced to these three stories, the characters start to merge. We discover that young George, distraught his bully would destroy his records, attacks his bully, Alex, at school which subjects George to a years of abuse at the hands of Alex. G, who is released from prison tries to rehabilitate back into society and although hard at first, is helped back onto the straight and narrow by his mentor Chris. G meets Jill, a heroin user who he forms a relationship with. Charlie who has now totally spiralled out of control rekindles with some old friends only to discover that G is in town. The turn in the film is that G is not actually young George grown up, but Alex the bully instead. We learn that young George took his life at a young age due to the bullying of Alex.
Once Charlie knows of Alex being present in the same neighbourhood, he goes to confront him. After a long and emotional confrontation, we discover that Alex himself was sexually abused by his father, to which Charlie accepts and walks away. However, once his wife Tasha loses their baby, he vents his anger out on Alex and puts him in hospital with severe head injuries. In remorse, he realises what he has done and decides to quit the drugs and embrace a healthy life with Tasha. He then visits Alex in hospital, who has decided to name his baby (with Jill), "George". Charlie accepts the symbol of repentance, forgives him and walks away.
Cast
Release
The Lost Choices was picked up by Metrodome Distribution for UK release on 15 September 2015.