Shank Review

Bold storytelling, explicit sex and a matter-of-fact approach to its ripped-from-the-red-tops subject matter marks coming-of-age/coming-out drama Shank, a raw despatch from the frontline of queer cinema. It's a far from polished production and there's full evidence of a cast and crew (average age: 19) with limited experience on both sides of the camera. There is, nevertheless, a fierce level of energy on display, and a serious attempt to confront the issues head-on.

Cal (Wayne Virgo) is the Bristol teenager running with a gang of violent happy-slappers led by the apparently sociopathic Nessa (Alice Payne). Struggling with his half-acknowledged homosexuality, Cal has anonymous sex with older college lecturer David (co-writer and co-producer Christian Martin) and he films the encounter on his phone. A combination of confusion and shame then prompts Cal to subject David to a brutal post-sex battering. It's a moment that sets the kid off on a dangerous new trajectory which will not only force him to confront his own sexuality, but also unlock the secrets of a gang which he can't escape.

Shank (slang for an improvised blade or a stabbing) does its best to inhabit an authentically grim world of pointless teenage violence. Nessa and her crew are the kids you'd run away from. However, a screenplay that's efficient rather than refined means they exist as sketches rather than fully-drawn personalities. Cal's clandestine affair with exotic French student Olivier (Marc Laurent) is the film's most plausible relationship but - graphic sex scenes aside - there's a chemical imbalance between the actors which prevents this central strand from coming to life.