Electricity should be considered a triumph of a film
Director: Bryn Higgins
Starring: Agyness Deyn, Lenora Crichlow, Paul Anderson, Saffron Coomber and Christian Cooke
Running Time: 95 Minutes.
UK Release date: 12th December.
A global modelling superstar making the awkward transition to film seems loaded with cliché and cynicism. This daunting task was the one chosen by budding actress Agyness Deyn, although the star may have had an acting experience in camp-action Clash of the Titans and more recently Pusher a new and far more challenging role laid ahead in new English drama Electricity.
Electricity is a gritty tale split between London and the north east as disillusioned Lily O’Connor-played by Deyn- attempts to battle with her extreme epilepsy and find her lost brother.
The tone of the film is firmly planted in the opening scenes as the usually spectacular-looking Deyn is shown portraying a girl-next-door character that is a self-proclaimed ‘fit-tastic-spaztic’.  There is a striking clash of imagery as the grotty grey ambience of a sea-side town is contrasted with the audience’s introduction to Lily’s suffering as her first epileptic fit is shown as a burst of surreal colour, before she is brought back to earth’s harsh reality. There is a distinctive This is England feel to the drama as the claustrophobically suffocating atmosphere we experience through Lily’s eyes is relentlessly despairing and quint-essentially English.
The sense of closeness is a common theme as the action is mainly centred around our protagonist with the viewer being given an almost entirely first person perspective on what Lily is going through, making the emotion feel more breathtakingly human. This constant invasion of emotional privacy means that in order for audiences to empathise and feel Lily’s life the performance from Deyn has to perfect, and it is.
Deyn is spectacular as Lily and wonderfully shows a character full of juxtaposition as she fearlessly battles through a new city determined to find her brother whilst also carrying a ticking time bomb of vulnerability as her epilepsy can be triggered at any moment.
Higgins does a fine job of creating scenes that are shaking with anxiety with such a sense of frightened frustration as each time Lily has an attack her progress is stalled and she has to start over again in her mission, almost like a video game.
Any sense of glamour is sucked out of the piece in every imaginable sense, not only is Deyn stripped down to a battered, bloodied and bruised victim but the plot twists are also uniquely blunt and un-Hollywood. The sense of rawness is an integral feature in order to keep the viewers locked into Lily’s world and understand the day-to-day brutal challenges she faces. The only sense of comic relief provided is from Lily’s grubby older brother Barry however Paul Anderson does a fairly forgettable job of offering any gear-change of tone. The lack of memorable plot-twists may lose some viewers however the sense of vulnerability that Deyn creates through Lily is more than enough to gage interest and drive the story forward.
Electricity is a film that flourishes on its rich imagery as it effortlessly flips between the dramatically mundane and gorgeously surreal at a moment’s notice. Deyn’s portrayal of a lost girl in a cold city is a performance that deserves the highest praise and shows that the cynicism attached to a model attempting to make a career on the silver screen should be re-thought.
Electricity should be considered a triumph of a film as it not only tells a compelling story about the meaning of family but also highlights the harsh reality of living with such an overwhelming mental illness.
Verdict
