The White King

Despite having a solid cast, this is a really pretty lacklustre story about a young boy "Djata" (Lorenzo Allchurch) who together with his mother "Hannah" (Agyness Deyn) must fight against a dictatorship that has arrested his father "Peter" (Ross Partridge) and branded them both traitors. His grandfather "Col. Fitz" (Jonathan Pryce) is a high ranking officer in this rather Draconian regime so there is plenty of plot for us to get out teeth into - except, well, there isn't really. The characterisations are undercooked; the dialogue offers us little to augment that and aside from the effort from Pryce as the man genuinely tormented by loyalty to state and to family, the rest of it is all just a bit flat. The production is decent enough, the look of the film shows aplomb from both the director and the cinematographer - it's just the really staccato, unrewarding, story that renders this an unremarkable watch that doesn't really use the talents at it's disposal at all well.