This film is currently unavailable
Rage
A frustrated Peckham youth turns to crime to finance his music career in Newton Aduaka’s highly charged feature debut; once acclaimed as 'the British La Haine'.
Director: Newton Aduaka
Overview
Three Peckham youths, Jamie aka 'Rage', Godwin aka 'G' and Thomas aka 'T', are a rap trio who need £4,000 to make a record. Broke, but determined to cut his own record, Rage leads his friends on a drastic course of action, planning to burgle T's wealthy parents' house. Caught up with drug gangs, and violent clashes with racist police officers, Rage spirals out of control, driving his friends further away from him.
After premiering at Toronto and then the BFI London Film Festival in 1999, Rage was acclaimed as a fresh and vital urban story from an exciting new talent in director Newton Aduaka, the driving force behind an independent production that pulsates to a vibrant soundtrack sourced from underground hip/trip hop labels such as Jazz Fudge and Ninja Tune. But since then, the film seemed to disappear from view, until being recently championed by the Tigritudes: Pan African Film Cycle festival and described as "the British La Haine". On its 25th anniversary, UK audiences can now finally revist this elusive film, which could be said to constitute the missing link between the socially conscious drama of Pressure (1975) and the more crime-focused era of Black British films begat by Bullet Boy (2004).
Related
Chocolat Chocolat
Drama 1988 100 mins Director: Claire Denis
Claire Denis' fully formed debut offers a child’s-eye-view of racial and sexual tension that bubbles with unspoken desires.
Eat the Night Eat the Night
Thriller 2024 107 mins Director: Caroline Poggi and Johnathan Vinel
Siblings find passion and peril online and in the real world, in this visually electric French drama.
Pornomelancholia Pornomelancholia
Drama 2022 94 mins Director: Manuel Abramovich
Soulful docufiction featuring real-life porn actor Lalo Santos.
God's Own Country God's Own Country
Drama 2017 105 mins Director: Francis Lee
A troubled young sheep farmer falls for a hired hand in this stunning debut from Francis Lee.
Amores perros Amores perros
Drama 2000 148 mins Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Alejandro González Iñárritu's (Birdman, The Revenant) gripping debut feature is a savagely brilliant triptych around the theme of animalistic desires.
Drugstore Cowboy Drugstore Cowboy
Drama 1989 101 mins Director: Gus Van Sant
Matt Dillon and his not-so-merry band of junkies rob pharmacies and cheat death.
Pressure Pressure
Drama 1978 121 mins Director: Horace Ové
Hailed as Britain's first black feature film, Pressure is a hard-hitting, honest document of the plight of disenchanted black youths in 1970s London; now available in its new restoration.
Bless Their Little Hearts Bless Their Little Hearts
Drama 1983 86 mins Director: Billy Woodberry
Nuanced marital drama directed by Billy Woodberry and written by Charles Burnett (Killer of Sheep), who also shot the film in his characteristically sublime black and white style.
Flavio Flavio
Documentary 1964 11 mins Director: Gordon Parks
Photographer Gordon Parks’ remarkable film depicts a day in the life of an industrious 12-year-old boy living in the impoverished favela slums of Rio de Janeiro.
Mambar Pierrette Mambar Pierrette
Drama 2023 94 mins Director: Rosine Mbakam
Rosine Mbakam’s feature debut focuses on a week in the life of a working-class Cameroonian who strives against all odds to make ends meet.
Chocolat Chocolat
Drama 1988 100 mins Director: Claire Denis
Claire Denis' fully formed debut offers a child’s-eye-view of racial and sexual tension that bubbles with unspoken desires.
Paterson Paterson
Comedy 2016 118 mins Director: Jim Jarmusch
Adam Driver excels in this effortlessly charming tale of a bus driver poet in New Jersey, filmed with typically groovy elan by Jim Jarmusch.
Eat the Night Eat the Night
Thriller 2024 107 mins Director: Caroline Poggi and Johnathan Vinel
Siblings find passion and peril online and in the real world, in this visually electric French drama.
Bound Bound
Gangster 1996 109 mins Director: Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski
A seductive neo-noir and cult classic centring on lesbian desire in dangerous circumstances.
High Life High Life
Science Fiction 2019 113 mins Director: Claire Denis
The messiness of sex, the mysteries of birth and the moving spectacle of devoted parenting in the face of impending oblivion create a potent atmosphere in Claire Denis’ English-language debut.
Pornomelancholia Pornomelancholia
Drama 2022 94 mins Director: Manuel Abramovich
Soulful docufiction featuring real-life porn actor Lalo Santos.