Review of London Road (2015) by Dovebit B — 11 Oct 2015

LONDON ROAD is a strange movie in that it is a musical about a horrific series of murders - five women prostitutes by a resident of London Road in Ipswich. It's a version of the musical stage play and uses the exact words of the protagonists during interviews following the murder and the subsequent investigation.

I'm not a fan of musicals, but this one sort of works. There are some compelling, and even disturbing, moments. But, overall, I felt that singing natural language was contrived and detracted from the seriousness of the circumstances.

The movie focuses entirely on the responses of the members of the community to the crime that has occurred right in their street. And their attitudes to the victims of the crime are important to contemplate.

I acknowledge that this musical is innovative. But that isn't enough for me to conclude that this is a great movie. At one point, I looked up the movie length and was glad to see it was only 91 minutes long.

I see that general audiences are rating this movie just under average. In this case, movie critics seem to be more appreciative of this one than the rest of the population. I wouldn't want to sit through it again.