London Road (2015)

We tend to think musicals are about light subject matter but that's not always true. They often deal with complicated plots and themes (Rent, Hamilton) and even gruesome murder (Sweeney Todd). So the idea of London Road isn't so out there. It is also not unheard of for a film to take it's script from actual transcripts of a real life event (The Laramie Project). London Road takes the idea of a musical and mixes it with verbatim style to create a very unique experience, one which is not very comfortable (which is good) and puts us in a unique space which is both heightened reality and clearly unreal (also, very good).

Because exploring the idea of murder and the way it disrupts the lives of communities should be both honest and unnerving. London Road, both its script and the lyrics to its music, are taken from actual transcripts of interviews with people living in the community affected by a series of murders of sex workers in their area. The words of the people there are powerful. They are angry, ignorant, passionate, terrified, compassionate, and very human. The film isn't really about the murders at all but the community reaction to them. Fear and discomfort with violence, sex work, strangers. It all comes out in the confessions. It's endlessly fascinating.

And it's sung. It's the music which is both brilliant and a bit broken about London Road. Singing the words of the citizens, keeping the rhythm of their speech, in rather unmelodic songs, keeps the film from feeling trite. It's always off putting. This is essential to the point of the film but it takes away from the watchability of the story. You certainly won't leave London Road humming the songs. You'll leave feeling uncomfortable with what you just saw. And that's mostly the point. Because we shouldn't be comfortable with murder. And we shouldn't be comfortable with the reactions we have to such crimes.

One of the final songs is titled Everyone Smile. It is both ironic and sincere. There is healing represented but also a certain effort to brush things under the rug. I think this is what works best about London Road. The way it constantly walks both sides. It doesn't shame its subjects, but doesn't placate them either. It doesn't justify or blame. It just honestly explores how we process something as unimaginable as murder.

London Road ends up being something very unique. It mostly worked for me, especially as it built to its finale, its melancholy and confused conclusion.

London Road
Starring: Tom Hardy, Olivia Coleman
Director: Rufus Norris
Writers: Alecky Blythe, Adam Cork