Snow in Paradise
A petty East End criminal finds spiritual support from an unlikely source when a drug deal ends in violent tragedy.
- Director Andrew Hulme
- Producer Christine Alderson
- Screenwriters Martin Askew, Andrew Hulme
- With Frederick Schmidt, Martin Askew, David Spinx
- UK 2014
- 108 mins
- UK distribution Curzon Film World
Loosely inspired by the incredible-but-true experiences of co-writer and co-star Martin Askew – a white, working class Hoxton boy who turned his back on a gangster life in East London to convert to Islam in 2001 – Andrew Hulme’s feature debut is a subtle, calibrated crime film with a difference. Newcomer Frederick Schmidt plays Dave, a petty criminal who runs errands for his menacing uncle Jimmy (Askew). On what he thinks is a routine drug deal, Dave takes along a stranger – his best friend Tariq – unwittingly breaking gangland protocol and putting the boy in mortal danger. When Tariq goes missing, Dave is forced to take stock of his life, bringing a rare spiritual depth to a film that deals directly with the changing face of the capital’s East End, where today’s heirs to the Kray twins and the provincial villains of old are fast losing ground to the twin arms of gentrification and multiculturalism.
Damon Wise
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