Yardie

Several reviews are already online following actor Idris Elba’s Sundance debut, Yardie, and his freshman effort at the helm has been a bit worse for wear. Some higher points note solid performances from the cast and Elba’s notable grasp of filmmaking among others but time will tell if future reviews and opinions will foresee a change in direction.

Beyond that, the film is getting a European release later this year from StudioCanalUK based on Victor Headley’s 1992 novel and for this, we finally have an official trailer making arounds. Aml Ameen, memorably known from the first season of Netflix series, Sense8, leads the narrative and from the footage shown, it certainly looks the part and sells like a proper coming-of-age crime thriller for curious cinephiles so I’m definitely curious to see how other crowds respond.

Set in ’70s Kingston and ’80s Hackney, Yardie centres on the life of a young Jamaican man named D (Aml Ameen), who has never fully recovered from the murder, committed during his childhood, of his older brother Jerry Dread (Everaldo Creary). D grows up under the wing of a Kingston Don and music producer named King Fox (Sheldon Shepherd). Fox dispatches him to London, where he reconnects with his childhood sweetheart, Yvonne (Shantol Jackson), and his daughter who he’s not seen since she was a baby. He also hooks up with a soundclash crew, called High Noon. But before he can be convinced to abandon his life of crime and follow “the righteous path”, he encounters the man who shot his brother 10 years earlier, and embarks on a bloody, explosive quest for retribution – a quest which brings him into conflict with vicious London gangster Rico (Stephen Graham).

Watch the new trailer just below!

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