The Score

As Troy (Will Poulter) puts to Mike (Johnny Flynn) early in the film, ‘score’ has many meanings in the English language. One of them may well be from the viewer of this film what is the score with The Score. It’s a challenging amalgam of thriller, character study, love story and musical.

The film opens with Troy singing as he goes meet Mike with a bag of money. They are scheduled to meet some people at a café to complete a deal. At the café Troy is almost immediately besotted by Gloria (Naomi Ackie), with a wary Mike warning about getting too involved and concentrate on the job in hand. But Troy can’t help himself and the two begin a dalliance that over the course of the film has its ups and downs and secrets.

Meanwhile the café starts to come to life with oddball customers – one of whom wants to take a photo of Mike and given short shrift while Troy and Gloria are more obliging. Also turning up are a pair that had previously been beaten by Troy earlier at a petrol station. Eventually Lydia Wilson arrives for the job and the whole thing gets much murkier.

Lack of original thinking or ambition is not an issue here with writer/director Malachi Smyth getting the best out a superb cast, who in turn are excellent with the wordy script. The film also looks wonderful with a strange sense of being out of place and time, with good use of light and dark. The difficulty is that that it appears fragmented which affects the pacing.

The songs and music were composed by Johnny Flynn though don’t take the plot forward much serving more to let the cast express their feelings towards each other. Overall this is an odd film the success of which will depend on the personal taste of the viewer.