Rage

Yes, all the standard elements are here, from brutally racist cops to parents with lofty expectations. But the central performances are offhanded and natural enough to keep us interested in the characters, even as the film looks like it was shot and edited on a camcorder (albeit with much better sound). Ayers is especially good, nicely capturing Rage's moods, aspirations and desperations, while Pickard (of TV's 2point4 Children) does a terrific job as the lost boy with bravado to spare. Parkes is also excellent, even though the intriguing G is a bit sidelined in the script (editing?). Aduaka shows promise in his idea and in the actors/characters, but the film's pace is seriously slow, edited chaotically (both visually and song-wise) and filled with artfully vague shots that don't add anything to the story or mood. They just make the film feel much, much longer than its 90 minutes. To be honest, with some judicial editing, this could have been a ripping short film.