I read about this in Sight & Sound magazine and it sure stimulated my curiosity. So, what did I think of the film?

First, it’s about two friends Timmy and Marco, split between two Deptford and Peckham (South-East London areas) gangs and unfortunately then get drawn into a conflict. What’s interesting about how this is all portrayed is the writer+director, Andrew ‘Rapman’ Onwybolu, clearly infuses the movie with quite a personal and fluid style. Indeed, it builds on having broken out career-wise via a Youtube project (a trilogy of short films – Shiro’s Story), this being his feature debut and although filmed on a low budget you wouldn’t necessarily know.

For example, there’s enough wide aerial shots that emphasise the large yet personal scale of what Timmy and Marco get drawn into gang-wise and more. Helping structuring this here and there are detours into rapping which although may feel a bit repetitive depending how drawn you are into rapping I guess, it helps the film’s empathetic but realistic tone.

So, I suppose my only other “criticism” really is that as the film moves along, pacing can drag a little. Regardless, as feature debuts go, “Rapman” does great. Oh and worth noting is how this is even branded as a ‘Rapman’ film, not an Andrew Onwybolu (his real name!) project. This says a lot in terms of how much of a personal, “mainstream” thing Blue Story was for him, and what also says a lot was how I saw this with a multi-ethnic audience and that they seemed to respond to it well 😊.

Overall, definitely go watch it, especially given this is only meant to be available in cinemas!!