This sophomore feature film from the British filmmaker Sacha Polak SILVER HAZE sees her back working with actress Vicky Knight after their award-winning Dirty God in 2019. For that role, Knight was chosen from auditions of burn survivors, and now once again she is starring in the role of a survivor…….. this time of a deliberately started fire that took place in a family friend’s pub: fifteen years late
Knight plays Franky a nurse whose patient is Florence (Esmé Creed-Miles), a similarly complicated and damaged young woman who is recovering after a recent suicide attempt. They quickly begin a hot and heavy (mainly sexual) relationship …….Franky’s first same-sex one. When they are discovered by Franky’s homophobic blue-collar family the pair run away to move in with Florence’s grandmother in Southend-On-Sea.
Silver Haze is a gritty piece of British realism that demands your concentration with its uneven plot lines and somewhat confusing character developments. Despite this, Knight gives a compelling performance at the heart of this film as she somewhat angrily attempts to reconcile the unanswered questions from her childhood, navigate her sexuality
Silver Haze has such a distinctive improvised feel of the whole project like a British kitchen-sink drama of the late 1950s: however now it’s not about angry young men!
PS The next screening of SILVER HAZE will be at BFI FLARE, London
Labels: 2024, BFI Flare, British realism, lesbians, Sacha Polak, Silver Haze
