A Hundred Streets | Film review - London's streets are paved with soap

A Hundred Streets aka 100 Streets Idris Elba

(Image credit: © Vertigo Films)

Every street has a story

Set in a patch of South-west London where rich and poor jostle and collide, multi-stranded ensemble drama A Hundred Streets (100 Streets on the poster but not on screen) purports to offer a more realistic view of the capital’s social mix than that presented by Richard Curtis in the likes of Notting Hill. But its three overlapping stories are pure melodramatic hokum.

At the upper end of the wealth scale in well-heeled Chelsea, Idris Elba is the former rugby player whose life has gone into a tailspin of drinking and drugging after he cheated on ex-actress wife Gemma Arterton with the nanny. Over the river in Battersea, singing cabbie Charlie Creed Miles and broody wife Kierston Wareing stand in for the just about managing. And, at the bottom of the heap, Franz Drameh’s teenage drug dealer strives to escape gang life with the encouragement of Ken Stott’s friendly veteran actor.

Director Jim O’Hanlon gives the well-chosen locations an impressive sheen, but Leon F Butler’s contrived script soaks everyone in soap.

Certificate 15. Runtime 93 mins. Director Jim O'Hanlon

A Hundred Streets debuts on Sky Cinema Premiere on 25 March and is available on DVD & Digital Download from Signature Entertainment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKdXcvusCMg

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A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.