Club Knuckledust punters pay to watch homeless army veterans kill each other in this lurid tale of a fighter who goes rogue
At Club Knuckledust, clients have access to a range of dodgy entertainment, ranging from basic sex-club fetish fun to watching homeless ex-soldiers suffering from Ptsd kill each other in a cage arena. Manager Serena (Camille Rowe) slinks about in polyester lamé frocks arranging the brutality and profiting from the betting, her evilness presumably meant to be signalled by her American accent. But it all goes wrong one night when a veteran conscript, given the fighting name of Hard Eight (Moe Dunford), goes rogue and refuses to let himself get killed in the third round.
A variety of eccentric characters are introduced as the action toggles back and forth between flashbacks, showing what happened immediately next in the terrordome, and a subsequent police investigation and interrogation of Hard Eight.
At Club Knuckledust, clients have access to a range of dodgy entertainment, ranging from basic sex-club fetish fun to watching homeless ex-soldiers suffering from Ptsd kill each other in a cage arena. Manager Serena (Camille Rowe) slinks about in polyester lamé frocks arranging the brutality and profiting from the betting, her evilness presumably meant to be signalled by her American accent. But it all goes wrong one night when a veteran conscript, given the fighting name of Hard Eight (Moe Dunford), goes rogue and refuses to let himself get killed in the third round.
A variety of eccentric characters are introduced as the action toggles back and forth between flashbacks, showing what happened immediately next in the terrordome, and a subsequent police investigation and interrogation of Hard Eight.
- 12/10/2020
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Guardian - Film News
Joe and Lizzie try to make it work in James Kermack’s debut feature, which is big on angst but shot through with undeniable energy
British writer-director James Kermack’s feature debut goes big on the angst of thirtysomething blokes and their eternal struggles issues with commitment and attaining self-knowledge, but it’s hard to hold a grudge against it given the energy of the direction and the charisma of its toothsome young stars. Matthew Stathers stars as the titular Joe, a professional children’s entertainer and hard-partying showboat who is determined to make it work with the lissom Ellie (Lizzie Philips), an aspiring dancer as quick on the quip as Joe himself. Although Gethin Anthony, Tom Bateman and a few other supports drift in and out of the story, the relationship between the two leads is the object of focus here as they go through the highs and lows of young love.
British writer-director James Kermack’s feature debut goes big on the angst of thirtysomething blokes and their eternal struggles issues with commitment and attaining self-knowledge, but it’s hard to hold a grudge against it given the energy of the direction and the charisma of its toothsome young stars. Matthew Stathers stars as the titular Joe, a professional children’s entertainer and hard-partying showboat who is determined to make it work with the lissom Ellie (Lizzie Philips), an aspiring dancer as quick on the quip as Joe himself. Although Gethin Anthony, Tom Bateman and a few other supports drift in and out of the story, the relationship between the two leads is the object of focus here as they go through the highs and lows of young love.
- 11/23/2017
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Guardian - Film News
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