Expected more

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Artsy Brit tv movie deals with the life and fantasies of a mature-looking teen prostitute on the streets of some urban combat zone in the UK. She has a pimp who treats her like a daughter, a father who treats her like a whore, a junkie b.f., and a few pounds in a postal savings account. But her life isn't all rosy. She has a thing about fire. Film tells what happens to her when she goes on her own.Overall result is not especially rewarding. The 1984 US film ANGEL ("high school honor student by day, Hollywood hooker by night!") provided more coherent narrative and a vastly more satisfying treatment of similar material. If it's supposed to be a surprise that Stella has a sexual history with her father, it's telegraphed from their first scene together. The rest of the pic is just a wait to see what she's going to do about it. Otherwise, there's no onscreen evidence the writer got a passing grade in Plotting 101. This one seems to owe a lot in style and concept to the work of Dennis Potter (you have been warned), with bizarre fantasy and drab reality interspersed.As a native speaker of American English, I would have been completely lost in this picture without the assistance of closed captioning. (Let's not hear anything more, *ever*, from the Brits about how we in the USA butcher the language, OK?) Accents and diction featured here make Belfasters sound like BBC news readers. Worst offender is lead Kelly Macdonald, of whose dialogue literally nothing is intelligible except the "f**k" or "f**king" she uses 2 or 3 times per sentence. The Celtic lilt is rather nice, though; does she ever work in English-language productions?Direction and script are both much too artsy, tech credits are excellent at displaying the scabby underside of the UK, and the performers do what they can with the material. Atmosphere is plenty grubby and sleazy but no nudity or graphic sex is featured, which is overall a big plus for the production, though rather a surprise from a Brit TV movie.On the IMDb meter I give this a 1, regretful that the scale does not include a 0 option. As Stella herself might have put it, "Gnghh f**k tnscrfa qpsllv f**king aqng mbzarky." Or something like that. You'll have to imagine the Celtic lilt.

I saw this film on cable last night. I really wanted to like it because I like Hans Matheson and Kelly Macdonald, but when it was over, I felt disappointed. I think my biggest pet peeve is that the filmmakers spent too much time trying to drive home the point that Stella was molested as a child (after the third flashback, even the dumbest audience member understands) and too little time developing the characters. I would have liked to know more about why Eddie is the way he is, and why Stella latches on to him as opposed to, say, one of her older Johns who isn't a drug addict. Perhaps it was intentional that the only person we get to know is Stella, because that way we can see just how messed up and confusing her life is. I'm just not sure.

The output from British studios has been mixed to say the least, over the past 3/4 years. This is worth a viewing. It is sluggish over the first 30 minutes, and lacks a narrative direction. However you become drawn into Stella's life and frequent mistakes. A tender movie that doesn't go for the cliche.

This film is truly remarkable both in storyline and acting. Kelly MacDonald excels as under age prostitute Stella whilst James Bolam is creepily superb as her pimp. The story centres around Stella in London and her two roles as prostitute and outgoing young woman. There are also flashbacks of her childhood in Glasgow before she moved to London to become a prostitute. Sex scenes are not graphic but perhaps seem more disturbing due to this. This film is a truly thought provoking delight covering many sub plots including drugs. Well worth a look