Drama

County Lines

Two Birds Entertainment

Loupe Films

United Kingdom

English

Conrad Khan

Ashley Madekwe

Tabitha Milne-Price

Harris Dickinson

Marcus Rutherford

Anthony Adjekum

Chizzy Akudolu

Ebenezer Gyau

Johanna Stanton

Carlyss Peer

Stephen Leask

Micah Loubon

Kashif Douglas

Clay Milner-Russell

Alfie Darling

Shauna Shim

Chris Mamendyi

Michael Oku

David Tarkenter

Matteo Piombino

Claire Lacey

Antoinette Alexis

Chris Kyriacou

Sean Berry

Fabiola Bonnot

Mika Wingate

Srdjan Kurpjel

Dylan Rees

Sharon Long

Ceri Bedingfield

Sherylee Houssein

Paul Harvey

Charlie Cowper

Aisha Bywaters

Richard O'Brien

Ben Baird

Joel Spence

Penelope Berkemeier

Red Miller

Sam Waddington

Daniela Brandano

Joe Starrs

Jimmy Mullins

Phillip Brereton

Chris Barber

Stuart Pitcher

Anya Jane Magee

Andrew Georgiou

Juan Montoto Ugarte

Vicki Milne-Price

Xavier Dujardin

Ernest Tu

Holly Lucas

Thomas Vertongen

Rosanna Bruce

Doug Templeton

Jessie Hope-Weston

Rob Lock

Danny Richards

Ben Starkin

Julian Fritz

Ana Perez Bosque

Sean O'Shea

Nick Kray

Charlotte Llewelyn

Gareth Bishop

Lauren De Rigny

Tapio Liukkonen

Henry Blake

Paco Sweetman

Simona Hughes

David Broder

Christopher Granier-Deferre

James Pickering

Pia Getty

Phoebe Darling

Zoe Bamber

Sverre Sørdal

Victoria Bavister

CinemaSerf

If you're not in the know about drug trafficking parlance, then the title won't mean much - but that's not so important as we get to know "Tyler" (Conrad Khan). He lives with his drop-out mum "Toni" (Ashley Madekwe) and young sister. His school life is pretty torrid and despite efforts from the teachers and his mother to help, he remains introspective and prone to violence. Then he meets "Simon" (Harris Dickinson). He's a chavvy sort of guy, black Mercedes and plenty of cash to splash - and he doesn't overtly try to recruit the young "Tyler". He waits patiently for him to come to him - and that's when the spiral begins. He can make easy money by shipping narcotics from the city to the more rural punters where supply is more limited and more lucrative. What "Tyler" doesn't realise is, though, he's just a pawn in a game - and "Simon" is using loads of other lads like him to keep him in clover. It's the increasingly stark realisation that his choices are going to leave him battered, high and dry that gets us to a denouement that is predicable, but quite potent. Dickinson does quite well as the charmingly malevolent pusher with a big smile and a ruthless streak a mile wide, Madekwe also performs strongly as the mother who must get her act together to protect what is her's - but essentially this is a story about a young man with little hope and a hell of a lot of frustrations and Khan plays that role assuredly. At times the audio mix isn't the best and coupled with their dark and dingy flat can make the film a little difficult to follow at the start, but those same filming techniques also contribute to the general bleakness of the plot.

Mark Kermode reviews County Lines (2020) | BFI Player

BFI At Home | County Lines Q&A with director Henry Blake and actors Conrad Khan and Ashley Madekwe

County Lines clip - on digital and in cinemas 4 December | BFI

Trailer

COUNTY LINES clip | BFI London Film Festival 2019

Best Movies

County Lines

Cast & Crew

Videos

Cast

Conrad Khan

Ashley Madekwe

Tabitha Milne-Price

Harris Dickinson

Marcus Rutherford

Anthony Adjekum

Chizzy Akudolu

Ebenezer Gyau

Johanna Stanton

Carlyss Peer

Box office

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